President Patrice Talon of Benin has provided a detailed account of the December 7 coup attempt, explaining how the government swiftly contained the attack without causing mass casualties, and praising the loyalty and discipline of the National Guard.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday at the Marina Palace in Cotonou, Talon described the incident as an isolated attack orchestrated by a few rogue soldiers rather than a full-scale mutiny.
“This is not really a coup d’état,” Talon said.
He continued, “They were a few soldiers who were in the camp of Togben for training, for leveling up, assured by a few trainers of the National Guard.
“And I can confirm to you that the entire Beninese army, the entire base, and in particular the National Guard, they were extraordinary.
“In the first minutes, they confirmed their allegiance to the state, to the superiors of the armies, to their authorities, and they immediately hired men to come to the aid of the state, to come and carry out their missions, to kill the thugs.”
Narrating how soldiers mobilised to foil the coup, Talon said, “We received a detachment from the National Guard itself, which is in Allada, and a detachment from the barracks of Ouida.
“All the barracks called on the General Staff, called on the Commander of the Republican Guard, to ask for the command to be kept. To know if all the barracks had to be engaged towards Cotonou, to protect the institutions, to protect the palace, the residence of the head of state, or if the incident had been controlled.
“In any case, all the barracks, all the high command, all the sub-command, reacted in the minutes that followed the attack. And that made me discover once again that our country had crossed a threshold. You know, I don’t call it a coup d’etat, or an attack of a coup d’etat, it’s an attack.”
The president emphasized that the government avoided actions that could have resulted in significant loss of life.
According to Talon, the attackers had retreated to the barracks with heavy weapons, prompting the deployment of airstrikes and reinforcements.
He said, “It was after we had exchanged with them that we decided to call for a strike, for a subsidiary country to help us make a surgical strike, because they had cut themselves off in Togben with heavy weapons, with armored vehicles.
“We had neutralized one of the armored vehicles in front of the national television, but they returned to the barracks with armored vehicles. You know, from the wall, they can still do stupid things.
“That is to say, start shooting in the barracks, doing anything, knowing that the cause was lost. We had also positioned armored vehicles not far from the camp to convince them to drop their weapons. You can’t be sure that people who have done such madness are, a few minutes later, able to reason and say, well, forget it.
“So there could be things that would cause a lot of damage. In the Togben neighborhood, the base is in the heart of Togben. I can’t be prejudiced against the public, because I was proven a few minutes ago that I can say, no matter the damage it will cause, no matter the innocent lives that could be lost, we said that it is absolutely not necessary that the clashes between the loyalist army, Toukou, and its loyalists cause human lives to be lost.
“We had already lost two people. At that time, I already knew that General Bada’s wife had already died. I already knew.
“I already knew that we had just lost one of the soldiers of the Republican Guard. I had just seen a second one who received a bullet that completely broke his arm. So, for me, we were already losing three people.”
Noting that Benin has abolished the death penalty, the President said, “We have abolished the death penalty in Benin. We are not going to kill people who are in crime. We have to arrest them, condemn them, but not kill them.
“We must not kill other soldiers who we knew very well in the camp, but who were not partisans of this affair.”
He explained that careful measures were taken to neutralize the threat without harming bystanders or innocent personnel.
Speaking on the foreign support his administration enjoyed during the ordeal, Talon said, “So, regarding the intervention of the Nigerian Air Force, it was around noon that, after analyzing the situation, discussing with military officials, the head of the Republican Guard, the Supreme General, who was in France, led the operations from afar. And he was about to take the flight to Cotonou.”
“We knew that there were many people in the camp who were not with them. People in the camp were calling us. We had calls from soldiers in the camp who said, no, we are not concerned. What is happening is not good,” he said.
“They were not with them. We must preserve these lives. We do not have aircraft capable of targeting to destroy one or two of these armored vehicles.
“Because it was their only weapon. They are powerful weapons. In front of which, we had to deploy the same striking force.
“It is true that we were in superiority. The whole army of Benin, with twenty-one boys, it was quick. But in all cases, if we had used our weapons, there would have been damage.
“There is a type of weapon that Benin does not have. It is highly susceptible aircraft.”
The president also addressed the role of the National Guard, which he said remained loyal and professional throughout the crisis.
According to him, the National Guard played their role admirably.
He said they came to aid the state immediately and carried out their missions to contain the attackers.
Talon further reflected on the sociological dimensions of the coup attempt, highlighting the role of marginal elements rather than systemic political grievances.
“You know, in all the communities of the world, whatever the time, there are always marginals. We cannot blame the Beninese nation for having a censor, some thieves, some scoundrels, some marginals. We cannot blame the National Guard, the entire army, for having scoundrels within it,” he said.
The president also addressed concerns about future threats, assuring that appropriate measures would be implemented to prevent similar incidents.
“However, as I told you earlier, appropriate measures will be taken to avoid disturbing the peace of Benin, so that people’s intentions will never be expressed, that it will remain in the heads of the marginal, that it will never happen, even if they try the second time that it cannot prosper,” Talon said.
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