By Nur Asena Erturk
The situation in Benin is “totally under control,” and citizens can return to their regular activities, President Patrice Talon said Sunday following a coup attempt in the country.
The president of the West African country addressed the nation through the state broadcaster Benin TV, and recalled that a “small group of soldiers… started a mutiny to attack republican institutions and destabilize the nation by challenging the democratic order.”
Talon said he undertook, as president and supreme chief of the armies, the necessary measures to ensure security in the country.
Benin’s president also thanked the army officials who remained “republican and loyal to the country,” and vowed that this attempt “will not go unpunished.”
A group of Beninese soldiers told the state broadcaster earlier on Sunday that they had removed President Patrice Talon from power and appointed Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri to lead a newly formed “Military Committee for Refoundation.”
Interior Minister Alassane Seidou, however, said on national television that the coup attempt by “a small group of soldiers” was foiled, urging citizens to carry on with their daily activities.
Defense and security forces are looking for Tigri, according to the local news site 24 Heures Au Benin.
The attempted coup follows the military coup in Guinea-Bissau in late November, which installed Gen. Horta Inta-A as transitional president.