Скачать или смотреть Benin, Niger in tit for tat diplomatic expulsions

(FILES) Benin's President Patrice Talon waits the arrival of French President at the Marina palace in Cotonou on July 27, 2022. Military personnel in Benin on Sunday announced that they had ousted President Patrice Talon, although his entourage said he was safe and the army was regaining control. Soldiers calling themselves the "Military Committee for Refoundation" (CMR), said on state television that they had met and decided that "Mr Patrice Talon is removed from office as president of the republic". The announcement follows two coups in Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau in as many months. Benin is bordered in the north by Niger and Burkina Faso, which have also seen military takeovers. The French Embassy said on X that "gunfire was reported at Camp Guezo" near the president's official residence in the economic capital. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)  Two years of tension between Benin and Niger this week saw the West African neighbours carry out a tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats, diplomatic sources in both states said Sunday.  Relations have been frosty since a military junta gained power in Niamey in July 2023. The regime has regularly accused its pro-Western neighbour of seeking to destabilise it, something Cotonou denies.  Relations plunged still further after a foiled coup attempt in Benin in early December. Cotonou has not specifically accused Niger, but suspicions remain about Niamey’s possible role in the failed coup.  Recent days saw Benin expel an intelligence agent and a police officer stationed at the Niger embassy in Cotonou, according to a Beninese diplomatic source, who did not specify a reason. In retaliation, Niger, in a note dated Thursday, declared the first counsellor of Benin’s embassy in Niamey “persona non grata” and gave him 48 hours to leave the country, citing a reciprocal move.  Benin’s army foiled the December 7 coup attempt with support from neighbouring Nigeria, and France. A flood of fake news supporting the coup leaders circulated on social media in the Sahel region on the day of the attempted putsch. Niger is allied with Burkina Faso and Mali, its two neighbours likewise ruled by juntas. All three states have left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to form a confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).  The trio, having moved closer politically to Moscow, share an anti-imperialist and pro-sovereignty vision and have bitterly criticised West African coastal countries which have remained close to former colonial power France, such as Benin and Ivory Coast.