In Benin, a failed coup d’état — but one that raises many questions

Sunday, April 7, 2025, Benin woke up shocked by an attempted coup that was quickly foiled. A group of soldiers briefly occupied the national television to announce the fall of President Talon, before being neutralized by loyalist forces. Although calm has returned, this episode—unprecedented in more than 50 years—raises many questions about the political climate, tensions within the army, and the vulnerabilities of a democracy long seen as stable.

Sunday, December 7, 2025, Benin narrowly avoided tipping into a military coup. In the early hours of the day, gunfire rang out near President Patrice Talon’s residence in Cotonou. A few minutes later, a small group of armed soldiers appeared on the national public channel (ORTB/SRTB), announcing that they had “removed the president from his duties” and proclaiming the creation of a “Military Committee for Rebuilding,” with Lieutenant-Colonel Pascal Tigri at its head. The putschists’ message boiled down mainly to three points. They accused the government of “neglecting soldiers who fell at the front and their families” and denounced the “ongoing deterioration of the security situation in northern Benin” as well as military promotions they considered unfair. By imposing their discourse on state television, these eight to ten soldiers briefly claimed to dissolve the institutions and suspend the Constitution.

However, the response from loyalist forces was swift. According to Interior Minister Alassane Seidou, the Beninese army, “faithful to its oath,” managed to “maintain control of the situation and foil the mutineers’ maneuver.” During the afternoon, the isolated rebel soldiers were cornered and their last pockets of resistance were suppressed, with around a dozen soldiers arrested in connection with the coup attempt. President Talon, speaking that evening on national television, said the situation was “completely under control” and vowed that this “outrage will not go unpunished.” His entourage also indicated that he was safe and that the Beninese state had progressively regained the upper hand over what turned out to be “a small, isolated group of soldiers.”

Internal political circumstances

If the coup was aborted within a few hours, the reasons that pushed these soldiers to revolt reflect a tense political and security climate. On one hand, Benin remains a democracy reputed to be stable, but criticisms against the head of state have accumulated in recent years. Patrice Talon, president since 2016 and re-elected in 2021, has been accused by his opponents of taking an authoritarian turn and of locking down the political field ahead of the April 2026 presidential election. The main opposition party has been sidelined for the next election, which has strengthened many Beninese people’s distrust of the integrity of the electoral process. In this context, figures in power have already been prosecuted – two former allies of Talon were convicted for plotting a coup in 2024 – feeding rumors and concerns about power maneuvers. As some analysts recently pointed out, the “political landscape [is] locked in favor of Patrice Talon’s camp” and the presidential record on public freedoms raises serious reservations.

International reactions

The attack on Benin’s constitutional order prompted near-unanimous condemnation on the international stage. At the regional level, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) early on showed its determination. That same evening, it announced the “immediate deployment” of its standby force on Beninese territory, composed of troops from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, to “preserve the constitutional order.” This decision, welcomed by Cotonou, is the first mobilization of this kind in a long time and demonstrates the neighbors’ willingness not to tolerate new overthrows of government. As a sign of active support, Nigeria — the region’s military power — specified that it had sent fighter jets to secure Benin’s airspace and had deployed ground troops to assist the loyal army in retaking strategic installations.

More broadly, the failed coup was immediately described as a “serious threat to stability” by international institutions. The UN, through its Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, firmly condemned the coup attempt, calling it contrary to the Constitution and democratic values. The African Union expressed its “deep concern,” recalling its “zero tolerance” for unconstitutional changes of power and calling on the putschists to “return immediately to their barracks.” The European Union also denounced the attack on Benin’s democratic order, demanding immediate respect for constitutional legality. These international reactions take place in a very sensitive regional context, marked by several recent coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

Issues and uncertainties

Despite the failure of the mutiny, many questions remain unanswered. Who truly orchestrated this “mutiny”? Did it benefit from covert support, military or civilian? What does this crisis mean a few months before the presidential election? Beninese people fear that the authorities will exploit the incident to further harden the handling of the security crisis or to tighten their political grip. Already, some observers note the paradox that even though “Benin [was] one of the most stable democracies in West Africa,” soldiers were tempted to defy legal authority.