Bombay Durpun - Benin hunts soldiers behind failed coup

At least a dozen plotters had been arrested and by Monday all hostages, including high-ranking officers, had been released, according to loyalist military sources.

The country's economic capital Cotonou was calm and traffic had returned to normal by Monday afternoon, AFP journalists saw -- a day after a group of soldiers had announced on national television they had ousted the president.

President Patrice Talon made his own TV appearance late Sunday, assuring the country that the situation was "completely under control".

Talon, 67, is due to hand over the reins of power in April after the maximum-allowed two terms leading Benin, which in recent years has been hit by jihadist violence in the north.

The Sunday coup attempt follows a spate of successful military takeovers in the region, including in Benin's northern neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Mali, Guinea and, last month, Guinea-Bissau.

"Violent clashes" erupted between the coup plotters and the Republican Guard at Talon's Cotonou residence, resulting in "casualties on both sides", according to the government.

The dead included the president's military chief of staff General Bertin Bada and his wife, in separate incidents.

Benin called on the swift help of neighbouring Nigeria, which said late Sunday it had carried out military strikes on Cotonou and deployed troops.

West African regional bloc ECOWAS has also announced military support for Benin, but a meeting scheduled to take place in Abidjan on Monday was cancelled. The bloc had threatened intervention during Niger's 2023 coup but ultimately did not act.

A military source told AFP on Monday that they were "not in a position to say how many" people were implicated in the coup attempt, "nor how many are currently on the run", but it was "presumed that many of them have fled" to the countryside.

"The search continues," the source said, adding that "there have been arrests".

Other sources told AFP there had been around a dozen arrests, but that coup leader Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri was on the run.

All hostages have meanwhile been "released", according to the military source.

Two senior Beninese officers, Chief of army staff Abou Issa and army chief Colonel Faizou Gomina, had been taken hostage but were released overnight.

- 'Prioritise dialogue' -

In his address late Sunday, Talon said the country had "stood firm" and "cleared the last pockets of resistance".

In Cotonou, the road to the presidential residence was closed Monday afternoon, and military tanks were seen elsewhere in the city.

The Economic Community of West African States said troops from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Sierra Leone were being deployed to Benin to help the government "preserve constitutional order".

The regional bloc, along with the United Nations, former colonial power France and the African Union, has condemned the coup attempt.

Under Benin's constitution, Talon is not permitted to run for a third term but his designated successor, Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, is considered a favourite for the presidential election in April.

The main opposition Democrats party has been excluded from the ballot on the grounds that its candidate did not have sufficient sponsors.

In a statement seen by AFP on Monday, the party said it "rejects any seizure of power by force and strongly condemns these acts that do not honour our country".

"This heinous and tragic event once again highlights the need for all political actors in our country to prioritise dialogue," it stated.

Benin's political history has been marked by several coups and attempted coups since its independence from France in 1960.

D.Jayaraman--BD