French intervention in Benin coup is a clear case of neocolonialism

On Sunday 7 December, West African and French troops were deployed in Benin to foil what the country’s president called an attempted coup.

Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri led the coup attempt, alongside eight uniformed men calling themselves the ‘Military Committee for Refoundation’. They claimed power in an appearance on state TV, and announced president Patrice Talon “removed from office”, along with all state institutions.

Foiled coup

However, they never got further than that.

Al Jazeera reported that the Military Committee for Refoundation made their appearance on state TV on Sunday Morning. Shortly thereafter, a government source informed AFP that Talon was safe and the army was taking back control.

Alassane Seidou, Benin’s interior minister, announced by video that Benin’s armed forces had prevented the coup. He also stated that:

I would like to reassure you that the situation is totally under control and therefore invite you to calmly go about your business.

State forces arrested 12 soldiers following the attempted insurrection. Colonel Tevoedjre of the Benin military estimated that around 100 individuals joined the mutiny.

In part, intervention from Economic Community of West African States and the African Union (ECOWAS) is responsible for the swift thwarting of the coup.

International forces intervene in Benin Coup

ECOWAS ordered its standby forces to deploy immediately to Benin after the coup broadcast. In a statement, the bloc announced that it sent soldiers from Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria to:

support the government and the Republican Army of Benin to preserve constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Benin.

Nigeria also announced that its airforce struck targets in Benin. The office of president Bola Tinubu stated that he:

ordered Nigerian air force fighter jets to enter the country and take over the airspace to help dislodge the coup plotters from the national TV and a military camp where they had regrouped.

Alongside ECOWAS reserves and the Nigerian Airforce, colonel Tevoedjre confirmed the involvement of French forces: 

French special forces were sent from Abidjan, used for mopping up operations after the Beninese army had done the job.

Likewise, a French presidential adviser told Reuters that:

France provided support in terms of surveillance, observation, and logistics to Benin forces. This support was done as part of regional efforts by ECOWAS.

As reported by the People’s Dispatch, the foreign troops are still on deployment in Benin, and in control of several key government buildings.

President Talon’s enduring hold on power

After the attempted coup, Benin’s president Talon announced that:

This treachery will not go unpunished.

Talon has ruled the West African nation of Benin since 2016. The longevity of his premiership is due in no small part to the fact that he blocks credible election challengers and jails opponents. Al Jazeera columnist Tafi Mhaka went so far as to say that:

Benin’s real coup – the systematic overthrow of its democracy – had already occurred under Talon.

Mhaka explained that Benin was once well-known among West African nations for its peaceful transfers of power. However, once multi-millionaire Talon gained power:

Instead of strengthening democracy, Talon began to systematically dismantle the democratic institutions that had made Benin, a country of nearly 15 million people, known as an early democratic success in Africa.

Since 2016, Benin’s democratic institutions have been hollowed out through legal engineering, judicial capture, and electoral rules rewritten to exclude opponents from power.

Talon began quietly with court-packing in 2017-18, using presidential appointments to remake the Constitutional Court into a compliant body. Within a year, it would legitimise electoral exclusion and constitutional changes that consolidated executive control.

Protective partner or colonial master?

Talon also enjoys the backing of France, the former colonial ruler of Benin and several other ECOWAS countries. In fact, after his election in 2016, Talon pledged to strengthen Benin’s relationship with France, with then-French-counterpart Francois Hollande standing beside him.

France and Benin regularly renewed standing military cooperation agreements since 1977. French intervention in thwarting Sunday’s coup is an example of those agreements in action.

Or, to put it another way: France’s president Macron sent his forces to ensure that the regime of one of its former colonies remained friendly towards France. He also moved to ensure that other former colonies did the same.

This is an absolute textbook example of neocolonialism at work. Kwame Ture, author of Black Power: Politics of Liberation in America, has previously written that:

Imperialism, trying to preserve itself in the face of the oppressed masses’ anticolonial struggle, presented neocolonialism to the masses. Neocolonialism means powerless visibility. You see an African president, but the entire country is controlled by France or Belgium or England—its former colonial master.

Whilst France no longer rules Benin in name, it continues to exert political and economic control over its former colony. Whilst colonialism in its old form fades, colonial powers continue to reap the rewards of occupation.

Now, however, their hands and their names stay shining clean.

Featured image via Reuters