France admits having provided its “support” to the Beninese authorities to thwart the coup d’état

MADRID, December 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The French government recognized this Tuesday having provided, over the weekend, its “support” to the Beninese authorities to thwart the coup d’état against the president of this African country, Patrice Talon, and the establishment of a military junta in the former French colony.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pascal Confavreux, indicated that at the bilateral level, Paris “provided support in terms of intelligence and observation at the request of Cotonou” after their “prolonged bilateral exchanges”.

“This support focused mainly on intelligence and observation, also within the framework of our frequent exchanges with Benin”, he underlined, after emphasizing that we were following “the situation closely” and “firmly condemned this attempt at destabilization which, moreover, was extremely violent”.

Thus, he stressed that France maintains a “solid and multidimensional collaboration with Benin in various areas, notably cultural, human and security issues”. He added, however, that they gave their “full political support” to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which decided to intervene through Nigeria.

Over the weekend, a soldier declared from the headquarters of the public television channel that the rebels had created the Military Committee for Refoundation (CMR), led by Lieutenant-Colonel Pascal Tigri, and announced the dismissal of Talon, the closure of the borders and the dissolution of the Constitution. The president then declared that the situation was “totally under control”.

Talon, 67, plans to step down after elections in April 2026, when he completes his second term as leader of the African country. Thus, the politician, businessman nicknamed “the king of cotton”, promised not to run for a third term, which is prohibited by the Beninese Constitution.