Wednesday, December 10, 2025 - France played a key role in assisting Beninese authorities to thwart a coup attempt at the weekend, an aide to President Emmanuel Macron revealed on Tuesday, December 9, confirming French involvement in a regional response that helped foil the latest bid to seize power in West Africa.
The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Macron
led a “coordination effort” by speaking with key regional leaders two days
after Sunday’s failed putsch. France, at the request of the Beninese
authorities, provided assistance “in terms of surveillance, observation and
logistical support” to the Benin armed forces, although further details of the
operation were not immediately disclosed.
On Sunday, December 7, a group of soldiers stormed Benin’s
national television station and announced that President Patrice Talon had been
deposed, but loyalist forces later regained control and defeated the coup
attempt with the support of neighbouring Nigeria, which carried out military
strikes on Cotonou and deployed troops. The attempted takeover came against the
backdrop of a wave of recent coups across West Africa that have significantly
weakened French influence in the region. Mali experienced coups in 2020 and
2021, followed by Burkina Faso in 2022 and Niger in 2023, all of which forced
the withdrawal of French troops previously deployed for anti jihadist
operations
A successful coup in Benin, also a former French colony,
would have been viewed as a fresh blow to Paris and Macron’s standing in the
region, where Guinea Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, was also rocked by a
coup in November after elections that led to military authorities taking power.
On Sunday, Macron held talks with Talon as well as the leaders of Nigeria and
Sierra Leone, which currently holds the presidency of the West African regional
bloc ECOWAS, according to the Elysee aide. The situation in Benin “caused
serious concern for the president, who unequivocally condemned this attempt at
destabilisation, which fortunately failed,” the aide said.
ECOWAS has since announced that troops from Ghana, Ivory
Coast, Nigeria and Sierra Leone were being deployed to Benin to help the
government “preserve constitutional order,” while ECOWAS president Omar Alieu
Touray warned on Tuesday that “our community is in a state of emergency,”
citing both the growing jihadist threat and the spate of coups. The bloc had
earlier threatened military intervention during Niger’s 2023 coup that removed
President Mohamed Bazoum, an ally of Macron, but ultimately did not act, and
France also refrained from direct intervention.
“France has offered its full political support to ECOWAS,
which made a very significant effort this weekend,” the Elysee aide said. By
Monday, loyalist military sources said at least a dozen plotters had been
arrested and all hostages, including senior officers, had been freed. Talon
later addressed the nation on television late Sunday, assuring citizens that
the situation was “completely under control.”
Talon, 67, is due to hand over power in April after
completing the constitutionally permitted two terms, as Benin continues to
grapple with jihadist violence in its northern regions. On Tuesday, former
Beninese president Thomas Boni Yayi, whose opposition Democrats party has been
barred from contesting next year’s presidential elections, condemned the failed
coup. “I condemn most vigorously and strongly condemn this bloody and shameful
attack on our country,” he said, adding that the transfer of state power
“responds to a single cardinal and unconditional principle: that of the ballot
box, that of the people, that of free and transparent elections,” in a video
message shared on Facebook.
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