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The government of Benin says it has foiled a coup attempt by members of the West African nation’s armed forces.
“The Beninese armed forces and their leadership, true to their oath, remained committed to the republic,” Interior Minister Alassane Seidou said in a televised address.
BBC reports that earlier on Sunday, a group of soldiers made a broadcast saying they had ousted President Patrice Talon and eyewitnesses said they had heard gunshots and some journalists working for the state broadcaster were held hostage.
A Presidential Adviser said the president was in a safe location.
French Diplomats have denied earlier reports that he had taken refuge at France’s Embassy in Cotonou – Benin’s largest city and the seat of the country’s government.
“Early on Sunday morning, 7 December 2025, a small group of soldiers launched a mutiny aimed at destabilising the state and its institutions,” Seidou said in his address.
But loyalist soldiers were able “to retain control of the situation and foil the attempt”, he added.
Helicopters have been seen flying over Cotonou and roads were blocked with a heavy military presence on several streets.
Benin, a former French colony, had been regarded as one of Africa’s more stable democracies.
It is one of the continent’s largest cotton producers, but ranks among the world’s poorest countries.
The French and Russian embassies urged their citizens to stay indoors, while the US embassy’s advice was to stay away from Cotonou, especially the area around the presidential compound.
The rebel soldiers, led by Lt-Col Pascal Tigri, justified their actions by criticising President Talon’s management of the country.
Their first complaint concerned his handling the “continuing deterioration of the security situation in northern Benin”.
In recent years, Benin’s army had suffered loses near its northern border with insurgency-hit Niger and Burkina Faso as jihadist militants linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda spread southwards.
The soldier’s statement cited “the ignorance and neglect of the situation of our brothers in arms who have fallen at the front and, above all, that of their families, abandoned to their sad fate by Patrice Talon’s policies”.
The rebels also hit out at cuts in health care and taxes rises, as well as curbs on political activities.
Talon, who is 67 and regarded as a close ally of the West, is due to step down next year after completing his second term in office, with elections scheduled for April.
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