When the army comes knocking: Benin’s failed coup and West African instability

Problem

In the early hours of December 7th, a group of officers calling themselves the Military Committee for Refoundation appeared on Benin’s state television to announce the removal of the country’s president, Patrice Talon, the suspension of the constitution and their seizure of power.

It follows an all too familiar pattern across West Africa. Just days earlier, soldiers in Guinea-Bissau ousted President Umaro Sissoco Embaló on the eve of presidential and legislative election results. The military suspended the vote count—which Embaló seemed set to lose—and halted the electoral process. Observers have framed this as a new category of “ceremonial coups”, in which the military intervenes briefly or symbolically to camouflage an unfavourable election result.

Over the last five years, unconstitutional changes of government have left Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Niger in the hands of military regimes. These upheavals have undermined the power and legitimacy of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have since quit.

For now, Benin has avoided a similar fate. Loyalist soldiers confronted the plotters, supported by Nigerian Air Force jets, and by the evening Talon declared the situation “totally under control”. Later that night, ECOWAS announced the deployment of elements of its standby force—military personnel from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana—to reinforce Benin’s fragile order.

Solution

West African stability is crucial to European interests. European companies hold significant investments in coastal states, from infrastructure and agrifood to energy. The Gulf of Guinea is also a critical maritime artery for international trade, with ports key to European supply chains. In Guinea-Bissau and Benin, this extends to drug-trafficking, where stable governance is needed to police flows connecting Latin America, Asia and Europe.

Europeans must remain reliable partners to coastal governments without overtly displaying their support in a region where anti-French, anti-Western and anti-neocolonial narratives—often amplified by widespread disinformation—are pervasive. In Benin, media is increasingly saturated with propaganda glorifying Sahelian juntas and military rule. This has fuelled conspiracy theories about the extent of foreign, especially French, involvement in the coup’s failure and in Talon’s protection.

Because of these narratives, Europeans cannot appear to hijack regional initiatives. ECOWAS’s swift reaction is a positive sign at a moment of record-low credibility. Nigeria’s stabilising role is also key, from military support to Benin, to granting asylum to Guinea-Bissau opposition leader Fernando Dias da Costa. The Africa Facility to Support Inclusive Transitions is another important African-led initiative which can help prevent and handle coups in the region. Loud European support for these would only reinforce claims of Western imperialism and ECOWAS’s subordination to foreign interests.

Instead, European governments should keep providing discreet, sustained support to the resilience of coastal states, particularly in security-sector governance and hybrid-threat mitigation, while maintaining a low public profile and doubling down on countering hostile information operations, including those linked to Russia.

Context

This is not the first coup attempt against Talon, and it comes only months before general elections, including a presidential vote in April 2026, from which leading opposition candidates have been excluded due to the restrictive sponsorship system.

Although the coup failed, it reflects rising discontent within Benin’s security forces and society, despite Talon’s strong economic record. The soldiers involved cited multiple grievances: the government’s inability to contain the expanding jihadist insurgency in the north, increasing socioeconomic inequalities, shrinking civic space and opaque public procurement, not to mention a new constitution which extends the presidential term and creates a Senate for Talon to sit in.

Correction: The original version of this piece implied that France made no effort at all to stop the coup attempt. In fact, it did reportedly provide tactical and logistical support to authorities. The text has been amended accordingly.