The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Sunday said it ordered the immediate deployment of elements of its standby force to Benin after authorities there thwarted a coup attempt.
Troops, including soldiers from neighbouring Nigeria, are to support the government and protect the country’s constitutional order, ECOWAS said in a statement.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said in a statement that the Nigerian air force had been operating at Benin’s request to secure the airspace and carry out rapid missions in coordination with the neighbouring country.
The forces had acted under the ECOWAS mandate and thereby defended constitutional order in Benin, he said.
Benin had also requested ground troops to protect the government and counter armed groups, and Nigerian ground forces are now already in the country, Tinubu added.
Nigerian fighter jets helped drive the coup plotters from the state television building and from a military base, the statement said.
Media reports said there were explosions following suspected airstrikes in the port city of Cotonou, where the government is based.
Benin’s President Patrice Talon said on Sunday evening that the situation was now fully under control, according to media reports.
He thanked the armed forces and military leadership for remaining loyal to the country and the constitution.
The coup attempt would not go unpunished, he said on state television.
Shots had earlier been heard near the presidential palace.
A group of military officers seized the national television broadcaster and declared Talon deposed.
The soldiers said the country’s borders had been closed and Lt.-Col. Pascal Tigri had been appointed president of a “military reconstruction commission.”