Benin’s government says the officer who led Sunday’s failed coup attempt is now hiding in neighbouring Togo, deepening tensions in a region already rattled by a wave of military takeovers.
A senior government official in Cotonou told the BBC that Lt Col Pascal Tigri fled across the border shortly after loyalist forces regained control of key sites. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the authorities would formally request his extradition.
“We know he is in Lome, in the same area where President Faure Gnassingbe lives. We will make an official extradition request and see how the Togolese authorities react,” the official told the BBC.
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Togo has not commented, and there is no independent confirmation of the claim.
The attempted power grab unfolded in the early hours of Sunday, when a group of soldiers appeared on state television to announce they had seized power. Gunfire soon echoed around the presidential residence. Hours later, the mutiny collapsed after Nigeria, acting on a request from President Patrice Talon, sent fighter jets to dislodge the rebels from a military base and the state broadcaster.
Ecowas, which has watched several governments in West Africa fall to coups in recent years, moved quickly. Troops from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast have since been deployed to secure strategic locations across Benin. The response signals a tougher line from the bloc, which has been criticised for failing to deter juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
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French involvement has also stirred debate. Dieudonne Djimon Tevoedjre, the head of Benin’s republican guard, told AFP that French special forces were sent from Abidjan to support “mopping up” operations. “Benin’s troops were truly valiant and faced the enemy all day,” he said.
But government spokesman Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji told the BBC he could not confirm any French deployment, saying France mainly provided intelligence.
Houngbedji said the mutiny was led by a small group within the National Guard, a relatively new unit created to strengthen Benin’s fight against jihadist groups in the north. He added that the rebels had planned to strike the main airport in Cotonou, prompting Talon to seek Ecowas airstrikes to neutralise their armoured vehicles.
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“This led to the strategy of carrying out targeted airstrikes to immobilise their equipment,” he told the BBC.
The rebel soldiers accused Talon of neglecting the worsening security crisis in northern Benin, where troops have suffered losses as militants linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda push south from Niger and Burkina Faso. They also criticised cuts in public services, including the end of state funded kidney dialysis, rising taxes and restrictions on political activity.
Nigeria condemned the coup attempt as a “direct assault on democracy”.
