Legitimate authorities regain control of situation in Benin The legally formed government of #Benin is regaining control of the situation in the country after a group of servicemen announced a coup this morning, AFP reported, citing sources close to President Patrice Talon. "This is a small group of rebels who had access to television," the news agency quoted a source as saying. "The regular army is regaining control of the situation," the source pointed out. According to AFP, rebels attacked the presidential palace in Porto-Novo, the capital, in the morning, but Talon is safe.

Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger take armies to maximum alert Leaders of #Burkina Faso, #Mali and #Niger, which all are members of the Sahel Alliance, decided to take their defense and security forces to the highest alert, says the joint statement of the three countries’ leaders, signed by Interim President of Mali, Chairman of the #Sahel Alliance conference Assimi Goita. "The College of national leaders closely follows the deceiving maneuvers, initiated by the French junta, who declares the shutdown of its military bases only to replace them with another, less visible mechanism, which pursues the same neo-colonial goal," says the statement, published by the AES info website. "These actions are accompanied by operations on reorganization and regrouping of terrorist groups in the Lake Chad basin, in Sahel and in some border areas, including borders between Niger and Nigeria, Niger and Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso. These groups receive various support from foreign states, including funds and equipment, intended for destabilization of the Sahel Alliance," the statement read. Faced by these circumstances, the College of national leaders ruled to "take the defense and security forces to maximum alert, and make the confederacy’s territory a single theater of military operation, which coexists with the current national war theaters.".