A coup attempt was thwarted in Benin after a group of about ten soldiers stormed the national television station.

The group, calling itself the Military Committee for Refoundation (CMR), appeared on state TV and announced the removal of President Patrice Talon, the dissolution of government institutions, and the suspension of the constitution.

Lt.-Col. Pascal Tigri was declared head of the new military authority.

The French Embassy reported gunfire at Camp Guezo, near the presidential residence, and urged French citizens to remain at home until the situation becomes clear.

Shortly after, Benin’s Interior Minister appeared on national TV to announce that the attempted coup had been foiled.

“Early on Sunday morning, 7 December 2025, a small group of soldiers launched a mutiny aimed at destabilising the state and its institutions,” Interior Minister Alassane Seidou said.

He added that the Beninese armed forces remained loyal to the republic, and their response allowed them to regain control and stop the uprising.

“The government therefore urges the population to go about their activities as normal,” he said.

President Talon, 67, a close ally of the West, is expected to step down next year after completing his second and final term, with elections planned for April.

A prominent businessman known as the “king of cotton”, Talon first came to power in 2016 and has endorsed Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni as his preferred successor.

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Pastor Ekuma Uche Philips in Benin Republic has said that an angel was captured by a camera running in his Church during the crossover service.

According to pastor Uche, he has never seen such things before in his church and he believes we are in the days of great wonders.

He wrote (Facebook)

“THIS IS DOUBLE WONDERS INDEED.

An ANGLE was captured on Camera during our cross over Night , on Friday 31th Dec,

Exacting 12 : 13am,

I have never seen such thing since l was born,.

We are in the day of great WONDERS.

This is God,

Thank you Jesus. For your great visitation and double wonders in Faith foundation ministries Porto Novo.Benin Republic”.

Check out the photos of the angel below;

Benin opposition leader and former justice minister Reckya Madougou was sentenced on Saturday to 20 years in prison for terrorism before a special court in the capital Porto-Novo.

After more than 20 hours of hearings, Madougou, 47, was found guilty of “complicity in terrorist acts” by the Economic Crime and Terrorism Court, or Criet, which on Tuesday sentenced another key opposition figure to 10 years.

Critics say the court, set up in 2016, has been used by President Patrice Talon’s regime to crack down on the opposition and pushed Benin into authoritarianism.

“This court has deliberately decided to penalise an innocent person,” Madougou said shortly before her prison sentence was announced.

“I have never been and I will never be a terrorist.”

“It’s a sad day for our justice system, I maintain that there is no proof,” one of her lawyers, Robert Dossou, told AFP.

Assassinate political figures

Madougou was one of several Benin opposition leaders banned from running in an election in April in which Talon won a second term with 86 percent of the vote.

She was arrested in March — just weeks before the election — accused of financing an operation to assassinate political figures to prevent the vote, in an alleged bid to “destabilise” the country.

One of her France-based lawyers Antoine Vey told the trial on Friday that “this procedure is nothing but a political attack”.

“Even before her arrest, everything was orchestrated,” Vey said a day after arriving from Paris. He asked for the trial to be cancelled, before leaving the court and never returning.

Multi-party democracy

He then told AFP that it was “a trial in which nothing was judicial”.

Benin was long praised for its thriving multi-party democracy in a troubled region. But critics say the West African state’s democracy has steadily eroded under Talon, a 63-year-old cotton magnate first elected in 2016.

Some opposition leaders have fled the country while others were disqualified from running in elections, or targeted for investigation.

Joel Aivo, a professor who had been held for eight months, was found guilty on Tuesday of plotting against the state and money laundering.

Aivo, who was also barred from running in the election, was arrested on April 15, four days after the ballot that saw Talon returned to power.

Five Rwandan soldiers have been arrested after residents of a slum in the capital, Kigali, alleged that they raped women as they enforced a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the army has said.

Residents of Nyarutarama have been telling the military prosecution office that the soldiers also beat up male residents and stole from them, a BBC reporter in Kigali says.

One of the victims told journalists that on 26 March an armed soldier forced his way into her home and beat up her husband, when she tried intervene the soldier raped her.

The government imposed a nationwide lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19, but residents have complained about brutality meted out by security officers.

Last week, two men were shot dead after they were caught walking outside.

Police said the men had tried to attack the officers.

Rwanda has confirmed 84 cases of Covid-19.

Source: BBC

The dead bodies  and people suffered from Ebola still haunted the pregnant women in Guinea as they are refusing to give birth in hospitals fearing the long dead Ebola virus.

According to source, one of the women, Mamanata Soumah lost her baby because she did not go to hospital as she was afraid.

Mamanata disclosed that she didn’t once see a midwife, a nurse or a doctor during her entire pregnancy and even as she entered the third day of excruciating contractions without any pain relief, she refused to see anyone.

“I was scared of Ebola,” she said.

This was back in March. Five months after this area had been declared Ebola free.

“I didn’t have the courage to go for check-ups at the clinic because so many people died there,” she said.

Ms Soumah also disclosed that she lost her baby because it was lacking proper care and she is not alone as many women are giving birth while in their homes or at chiefs ‘compounds.

Votes are being counted in Benin, where 33 candidates are fighting to become president.

Thomas Boni Yayi is stepping down as leader in the West African nation of 10.6m people after two terms.

The ruling party’s candidate is Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou, who used to head France’s largest investment bank.

Sunday’s election was delayed after problems with the distribution of polling cards, an issue that continued until the day before the vote.

Benin’s electoral commission is yet to start publishing official results, but local media reported that Mr Zinsou would probably go to a run-off.

They said that he would compete against businessman Patrice Talon.

Official results are expected on Tuesday.

Mr Zinsou, who is Franco-Beninese, is considered as “France’s candidate” by his detractors. Benin gained independence from France in 1960.

A supporter dressed in the colors of candidate Pascal Irenee Koupaki

Businessman Sebastien Avajon is among the main candidates

The former head of the West African Development Bank Abdoulaye Bio Tchane is in the running

Job creation and anti-corruption drives are two of the main promises made by candidates.

Among other leading candidates is another businessman Sebastien Avajon, as well as economist Abdoulaye Bio Tchane and financier Pascal Irenee Koupaki.

Benin’s constitution barred Mr Boni Yayi from seeking a third term, although he had tentatively sought changes to the text allowing him to do so.

The rulers of other African countries such as Burundi, Rwanda and Congo-Brazzaville have recently changed their constitutions to allow third terms.

On Sunday people in Benin are voting for their new president.

And the ballot papers are going to have to be long – as there are 33 candidates seeking to take over from President Thomas Yayi Boni.

And today is their last chance to appeal to voters as campaigning wraps up.

Here are a few pictures of supporters of some of the candidates:

Two of the country’s most influential businessmen are standing for president, including food magnate Ajavon Sebastien

The other influential businessman standing is cotton tycoon Patrice Talon

Current prime minister and investment banker Lionel Zinsou is standing for the ruling party