00:00We begin in Benin, the West African country, bordering Togo and Nigeria with a population
00:15of 13 million people. It was in the early hours of this morning, between four and five
00:19o'clock when reports started to come in of a pre-dawn coup attempt underway. A group
00:24of soldiers calling itself the Military Committee of the Reef Foundation, launching an attack
00:29at the official residence of the president's gunshots heard ringing out and they seemingly
00:33took control of state television too. This was the message they sent out.
00:40The Military Committee for Reefoundation has decided. The constitution of November 2025
00:50is suspended. All institutions are dissolved. Political party activities are suspended until
00:59further notice. Benin's land, sea and air borders are closed until further notice.
01:05Well, there were immediate questions. Where was the president? Patrice Talon. Reports suggested
01:10he'd escaped. He'd taken sanctuary in the French embassy. That was denied by diplomats. And
01:15the coup seemed to fall apart. The country's interior minister said forces loyal to the president
01:20had prevented the plotters and arrests of the group have since been made. This is what the
01:23interior minister had said a short while ago.
01:29Fellow countrymen and women, on this Sunday, December the 7th, 2025, in the early morning,
01:37a small group of soldiers engaged in mutiny in order to destabilize the state and its institutions.
01:47Before this situation, the Benin Armed Forces and their hierarchy, faithful to their oath, remained
01:56Republican. They fought back and allowed the situation to remain under control and to fail
02:05the manoeuvre. Thus, the government invites the population to keep acting as usual.
02:16It's also notable in the confusion. That message was sent out first, not by television
02:20or state TV, that was sent out via Facebook. Let's cross to Brussels. Let's bring in Nina
02:24Wieland, Research Director at the Africa Programme, the Belgian Think Tank, the Egmont Royal Institute
02:29for International Relations. Welcome to the programme. Welcome to France Report, Nina.
02:34Let's begin your assessment of what's been going on in the past few hours.
02:39So, what we've seen is another coup attempt that has been particularly marked by different
02:48countries in the past five years. We've seen over the whole African continent, until between
02:552020 and 2025, we have had 19 coup attempts and 10 or 11, depending on how successful.
03:04So, we're really seeing a new coup wave on the African continent, and most of those in West
03:10Africa. And five of the ECOWAS, the West African Regional Organization, they have five of the
03:1915 members of ECOWAS have had successful coups for five years. So, we have seen that there
03:25is incentives for these coup waters to continue attempting to take over, because they've also
03:33seen that all of the coup leaders that have taken power have stayed in power. So, there is a trend
03:39of both a coup wave, but also of impunity with the coup leaders staying in power.
03:45There'll be France 24 viewers trying to understand why Benin, why the president, why now? What's your take?
03:51It's really difficult to assess at this moment, because up to now Benin has been considered as the stable
03:59democratic country in the region, even though there has been some authoritarian tendencies. The sitting
04:07president Talon came to power in 2016. Notably, the opposition parties were not allowed to participate in
04:16previous elections, and now this year, 2025, just a month ago, the main opposition party was again banned from
04:27participating in the presidential elections, which will take place next year in April. But that's on the political
04:35side. He's still considered as a democratic country in a very unstable undemocratic. But we've also seen that the
04:47security situation in the north of the country has considerably deteriorated over the past few years, and only this year we've
04:55seen two major attacks against the Benin West, Benin East and the north of the country, two of the largest one so far in the country's history, one in
05:07January, and one in April. And both of these attacks have been conducted by the Al-Qaeda affiliated jihadist group, JNIM, which is showing terror across the Sahel region, but also now then in the north of the Gulf of Guinea states. And the
05:13Benin has been really the country that has suffered the most attacks. And we know that in April this year, there was one of the largest attacks against the security force of the country in its history. And the official count is 54 soldiers per
05:31killed. But JNIM is claiming more than that. And what was perhaps notable with that attack was that the government first came out saying that there were only eight fatalities, which they then had to change later to fatalities.
05:56This is very interesting, particularly when it comes to you talk about Nina, the the jihadist threat and reflected clearly by its bigger neighbor next door as well in Nigeria, what we've seen in the north of Boko Haram and its affiliates. This clearly affecting the president, I guess there'll be lots of questions. First of all, the arrests that have happened so far, we don't know amongst them whether this leader of this group calling itself the military committee of re-foundation is leader, Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigre. We don't know whether he's been included in that. And also,
06:25And also, it's worth saying, do we know what his particular umbrage is? Is he citing jihadist threats to is he clearly this upset with the president and clearly is going to be a question about where he is right now, as well as the president?
06:41So, we don't know much yet. We know that there has been arrests. But we also know that certain elements of cutters have fled the city center. And so it's really hard to to say right now, what's happening to the different cutters. We know that they came from the Guard National, so the National Guard, and that the Republican Guard and the ones who have been defending.
07:06And that's also protecting the government. And that's also protecting the president and his family at the moment.
07:13And what the coup brothers stated on the national broadcast that they emitted this morning was that they were dissatisfied with the military favoritism and with the fact that the government did not sufficiently warn the soldiers that had died and soldiers that had died in the fight against jihadists in the country.
07:42And then that is, of course, coming back to the point I made earlier about the fact that the government, the attack in April this year, first only said that there had been eight, eight deaths in the attack against the government or against the security.
08:01And which, of course, which, of course, was a political move to try to diminish the threat and the risks that were encountered by the security force did not go down well, and not with the military and not with the other security.
08:17And it's very interesting. You're breaking up slightly, Nina. I'm going to persevere because it's very interesting, the context you're giving here.
08:23Let's talk about this group as well, this Military Committee of Re-Foundation. I mentioned them a moment ago.
08:27Just the optics of this is worth saying. A number of analysts have pointed out. You look at these images.
08:31This is not a confident-looking group of people. And I guess when it comes down to it, it's clearly a gamble.
08:36Would the rest of the forces turn to them or stay loyal to the president?
08:39Some analysts suggested it looks ragtag, and a lot is in the optics as well.
08:43What's your sense, just from watching things play out as well today, just how close it could have gone their way or not?
08:54Again, it's very difficult to say something about who's almost never – it's always a gamble, right?
09:03You never know if a coup is going to take off and if you're going to get enough forces with you.
09:11Clearly, this was not the case today. What we've seen in the other states that have experienced coups in the region is that it's often one of the closest people to the president that is the coup leader.
09:24For example, in Niger, it was from the presidential guard, and then he was also joined by people from special forces, which are often the best well-trained forces, and you would like to have them on your side.
09:39And in some cases, they've also managed to draw from different security forces like air force, maritime, or the navy, and gendarmes, et cetera, et cetera.
09:50In this case, it seemed like the National Guard were alone.
09:55We haven't seen any of the other units, security units, trying to team up with them.
10:02So, for sure, it's a gamble.
10:04And clearly, this time, they did not seem to be able to take over power.
10:10Really good to talk to you, Nina.
10:11Nina Willen, Research Director of the Africa Programme at the Belgian Think Tank, the Egmont Royal Institute for Interest Relations.
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