The Foreign Affairs Minister of the Republic of Benin, Olushegun Adjadi Bakari, has said that approximately 200 Nigerian and Ivorian troops are currently in Benin as part of a security mission supporting the government.
The Republic of Benin was rocked by a failed coup on Sunday, which saw Nigeria, France and the Ivory Coast mobilise in support of the civilian government.
“There are currently around 200 soldiers present, who came to lend a hand at the end of the day to the Beninese defence and security forces as part of the sweep and clean-up operation,” Bakari told journalists at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.
Bakari said that by the time the Beninese forces called for help, the coup “was already a failure”.
The Foreign Minister disclosed that Benin’s loyalist forces repelled the initial assault, but the situation required careful handling to prevent unnecessary civilian casualties.
“We requested the support of our brothers and sisters, not because our army was not capable, but because the President of the Republic did not want significant human lives lost,” the report by Daily Trust newspaper on Friday quoted Bakari as saying.
Bakari added that a direct clash at the assailants’ base could have led to major bloodshed.
“That is why President Patrice Talon asked for the support of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Benin army had succeeded in preventing and repelling this coup attempt, but the risk of heavy losses required a coordinated response,” he said.
Bakari praised ECOWAS for showing once again that it remains “an important tool that allows us to defend democracy and the values of democracy in our regional space,” noting that Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Ghana all offered support.
On the ongoing discussions on whether regional standby forces will remain temporarily deployed in Benin, Bakari said any decision “will be taken in close collaboration with Benin’s defence and security forces, who have demonstrated their bravery.”
The report also said that Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, had said during the ECOWAS ministerial briefing in Abuja, that fast diplomatic, military and intelligence actions between Nigeria and Benin helped to foil the attempted coup.
Tuggar stated that the episode proved how democratic institutions can be safeguarded when neighbouring countries communicate effectively.
“The coordination to ensure that democracy remains untampered in Benin was successful, and it is an exemplar of what really should obtain whenever democracy is under threat in our region,” he said, adding that he and Bakari were in “constant communication from the very beginning.”
“The fast reaction and communication between us and several of our colleagues is what led to the thwarting of this attempt to undermine democracy by way of an unconstitutional change of government,” he said, adding that the crisis has reaffirmed the need to strengthen the ECOWAS Standby Force.
GIK/APA