Benin: National Guard commander details the December 7 mutiny
In an interview with RFI, Colonel Dieudonné Djimon Tévoédjrè, commander of the Garde républicaine, gives a detailed account of the attack carried out on the night of Sunday, December 7, 2025, against President Patrice Talon’s residence in Cotonou.
For the first time, the officer lays out the timeline of events, his unit’s response and the international support mobilized to neutralize the assailants.
It all begins at 2:10 a.m. when two senior officers, General Bertin Bada and then General Abou Issa, report being targeted at their homes by armed, masked men. “I immediately understood that these were not isolated acts,” the colonel explains, who immediately triggers the highest alert.
Around 5 a.m., the mutineers presented as elements of Lieutenant-Colonel Tigri’s Special Forces go on the offensive against the presidential residence where the head of state and his wife are located.
Colonel Tévoédjrè describes forty-five minutes of extremely intense fighting, armor against armor and heavy gunfire in the adjacent alleyways. The Garde républicaine manages to repel the assault. One dead and one wounded are recorded among the loyalist ranks.
Repelled, the mutineers head to the national television station where they briefly broadcast a message before retreating to the Togbin military base.
The area is surrounded, but a ground assault is ruled out due to the proximity of residences. By the end of the day, targeted strikes carried out by a Nigerian aircraft neutralize their offensive capabilities.
The colonel confirms the intervention of external partners, notably a Nigerian combat aircraft and a French reconnaissance aircraft.
Elements of the French Special Forces, arriving from Abidjan, also supported the final sweep of the Togbin base. Regarding possible masterminds, the officer remains reserved: “The competent services will carry out the investigations.”
Regarding the criticisms made by the mutineers about the management of the northern front, the commander calls the arguments “fallacious” and recalls the military investments made in recent years, as well as the measures put in place to support the families of fallen soldiers.