The Ecowas chair, Julius Maada Bio has welcomed the restoration of calm in the Republic of Benin on Tuesday, two days after an abortive coup was thwarted by the Beninese armed forces.
In an official statement, the Sierra Leonean leader paid tribute to President Patrice Talon and expressed his gratitude to his counterparts for their solidarity in defending democracy and
constitutional order.
“Now that calm has returned to the Republic of Benin, I commend the leadership of President Patrice Talon and the courage of the armed forces who thwarted the attempted military coup,” said Julius Maada Bio in an official message released Tuesday.
The current Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of Ecowas also thanked
his peers for their swift response to the crisis in Benin.
“As Chairman of the Ecowas Authority, I sincerely thank my fellow Heads of State for their unwavering solidarity and collective efforts in support of the Beninese government and people in defending democracy and constitutional order,” he added.
His statement comes 48 hours after Maada Bio ordered on Sunday the immediate deployment of the regional standby force to Benin, in accordance with the 1999 Protocol on the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution.
This force is composed of military contingents from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana, with the mission of preserving constitutional order in Benin.
A deadly coup attempt
The attempted coup of December 7 was marked by violence that claimed the life of the wife of General Bertin Bada, Director of the Presidential Military Cabinet, who was attacked at her home around 2:00 a.m. Colonel Faizou Gomina, commander of the Togbin base, and General Abou Issa, Chief of Staff of the Army, were taken hostage by the mutineers before being released on December 8 in Tchaourou.
The coup plotters, after being repelled from the presidential residence by the Republican Guard, seized the national television station where they proclaimed the removal of President Talon and
announced the creation of a Military Committee for Refoundation (CMR) headed by Lieutenant Colonel Tigri Pascal.
They were quickly dislodged by loyalist forces. Taking refuge at the Togbin base with armored
vehicles, the rebels were neutralised by precision airstrikes carried out by the Nigerian Air Force, thus avoiding a ground assault in a densely populated area.
The base is now under the control of the ECOWAS standby force, including Nigerian soldiers and an Ivorian special forces unit.
President Patrice Talon convened an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Monday, during which a minute of silence was observed in memory of the victims, and ordered the continuation of investigations to identify the perpetrators and those who orchestrated the attack.
The Beninese head of state expressed his gratitude to the armed forces and the ECOWAS countries that mobilized, particularly Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire.
He urged his compatriots to demonstrate resilience, assuring them that Benin would continue on its path of development.
ECOWAS and the African Union condemned what tey called an attack against Beninese institutions, which occurred ahead of the April 2026 presidential election and amid persistent insecurity in the north of the country.
AC/fss/as/APA