Former Beninese president Thomas Boni Yayi, whose opposition Democrats party has been barred from next year’s presidential race on Tuesday condemned the failed coup attempt carried out two days earlier. His comments were delivered in a video posted on Facebook.
On Sunday, a group of soldiers briefly announced on national television that they had overthrown President Patrice Talon, before authorities, backed by military support from several West African countries, moved quickly to suppress the attempted putsch.
“I most vigorously and strongly condemn this bloody and shameful attack on our country,” said Boni Yayi, a former African Union chairman who led Benin from 2006 to 2016.
The transfer of power, he insisted, “rests on a single cardinal and unconditional principle: that of the ballot box, that of the people, that of free and transparent elections.”
Boni Yayi’s Democrats party was excluded from next year’s election after the electoral commission rejected its candidate, Renaud Agbodjo, for failing to secure the required number of sponsors.
The coup attempt, the latest in a region grappling with political upheaval over the past five years left several people dead, while at least a dozen alleged plotters were arrested.
Talon, who succeeded Boni Yayi, is due to leave office after April’s election, having completed the two terms allowed by the constitution. Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni is expected to face a moderate opposition contender, Paul Hounkpe, a former minister and academic.
Instability trigger
Military backing from Nigeria and other nations helped prevent Benin from joining Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and, most recently, Guinea-Bissau on the growing list of West African states to have undergone recent military takeovers.
On Tuesday, Omar Alieu Touray, president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), warned that elections themselves have become “a major trigger of instability in our community,” noting a “growing erosion of electoral inclusivity across multiple states” amid continued military interventions.
He added that ECOWAS must now negotiate with the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), comprising Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso on the terms of security cooperation as jihadist violence spills across their borders into Benin and Togo.
“Our community is in a state of emergency,” Touray said.
The AES members, all ruled by military juntas, have withdrawn from ECOWAS following their coups.
AFP
