Benin – August 1st Parade: Talon invites two members of the Sahel Alliance
President Patrice Talon invites two member countries of the Sahel States Alliance (SSA) to participate in the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of Benin’s independence. A gesture that, without denying past disputes, relies on a cautious resumption of dialogue.
The announcement was made by the government spokesperson, Wilfried Léandre Houngbédji: Benin invites representatives of two Sahelian regimes to its national holiday. Judging from the context, the initiative goes beyond ceremonial purposes. It embodies a clear strategic choice: that of a rapprochement despite tensions, a renewed cooperation in the face of common security emergencies.
For several months, the Beninese president has been showing signs of diplomacy. Emissaries have been sent to Niamey, official letters addressed to General Abdourahamane Tiani, head of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP). Responses are still expected, but Benin insists. It refuses to break the dialogue, even thin, even one-sided. Because behind this diplomatic persistence lies a truth that no one can ignore: the threats weighing on the states of the region transcend political quarrels. Terrorism, itself, knows no ideological borders.
Northern Benin, faced with repeated terrorist incursions, is a painful illustration of this. And in this asymmetrical war, regional coordination is not a diplomatic luxury, it’s a vital necessity.
In this respect, the invitation extended to the SSA countries looks like an attempt to build, on the ruins of institutional dialogue, a minimal basis for security cooperation. A lucid, or even urgent bet, at a time when front lines are no longer drawn between states, but between peoples and invisible threats.
Of course, all this takes place in a tense, or even deleterious, regional climate. Since the coup of July 26, 2023, in Niger, relations between Cotonou and Niamey have plummeted: borders closed, agreements suspended, cross accusations.
With Burkina Faso, tensions are also palpable. The SSA, a military grouping born out of a rejection of international pressures, seems to embody a desire to break away from the existing sub-regional order. Benin, for its part, remains in solidarity with the ECOWAS and its commitment to the constitutional order.