According to loyalist military sources, at least a dozen coup plotters had been detained, and by Monday, all hostages, including senior officers, had been freed.
AFP journalists reported that the country’s economic capital, Cotonou, was calm and traffic had resumed normal flow by Monday afternoon, a day after a group of soldiers had declared on national television that they had overthrown the president.
President Patrice Talon appeared on television late Sunday, reassuring the nation that the situation was “fully under control.”
Talon, 67, is set to step down in April after completing the constitutionally allowed two terms as Benin’s president, a country that has faced jihadist attacks in its northern regions in recent years.
The attempted coup on Sunday comes amid a wave of successful military takeovers in the region, including in Benin’s northern neighbors Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Mali, Guinea, and most recently, Guinea-Bissau.
The government reported that “violent clashes” broke out between the coup plotters and the Republican Guard at Talon’s residence in Cotonou, causing “casualties on both sides.” Among the dead was the wife of the president’s military chief of staff, General Bertin Bada.
Benin requested immediate assistance from neighboring Nigeria, which reported late Sunday that it had conducted military strikes in Cotonou and deployed troops.
The West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, also pledged military support for Benin, though a planned meeting in Abidjan on Monday was canceled. The bloc had previously threatened intervention during Niger’s 2023 coup but ultimately did not take action.
A military source told AFP on Monday that authorities were “unable to specify how many” individuals were involved in the coup attempt or how many remain at large, though it is “assumed that many have fled” to rural areas.
“The search is ongoing,” the source said, noting that “arrests have been made.”
Other sources told AFP that roughly a dozen individuals had been detained, while coup leader Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri remains at large.
The military source confirmed that all hostages have been “released.” Two senior Beninese officers, Chief of Army Staff Abou Issa and Army Chief Colonel Faizou Gomina, had been taken hostage but were freed overnight.
