France provided logistical support to Benin to thwart coup, Elysee says

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PARIS, Dec 9 (Reuters) – France provided intelligence and logistical support to Benin to help thwart Sunday’s coup attempt in the former French colony, officials from the French presidency said on Tuesday.

Benin President Patrice Talon said on Sunday that the West African nation’s government and armed forces had thwarted a group of mutinying soldiers who sought to overthrow him and he vowed to punish them.

French officials said they also shared intelligence with Nigeria, which sent fighter jets and ground troops to its much smaller neighbour at Benin’s request.

The unrest was the latest threat to democratic rule in the region, where militaries have in recent years seized power in Benin’s neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as in Mali, Guinea and, only last month, Guinea-Bissau.

“France provided support in terms of surveillance, observation, and logistics to Benin forces,” a French presidential adviser told reporters. “This support was done as part of regional efforts by ECOWAS,” the adviser said, referring to the regional bloc.

French officials declined to give more detail. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to the presidents of Nigeria and Benin on the phone over the weekend, his office said.

After retreating from much of its former West African sphere of influence over the past few years following coups in several nations, France has been lying low, preferring to work in support of local governments rather than intervene directly as it did for most of the post-colonial decades.

Northern Benin has suffered repeated jihadist attacks, including major assaults in January and April that killed dozens of soldiers. The coup plotters cited insecurity in the north as a justification for attempting the putsch.

(Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)