Tag: Benin

Shipowners operating in the Gulf of Guinea received a piracy alert in late June after a Swiss bulk carrier vessel was boarded and some...

Terror attacks in northern Benin have been on the rise since 2019. These incidents, attributed to the Group for the Support of Islam and...

Benin’s armed forces displayed newly acquired helicopters during the country’s Independence Day parade on 1 August. Three H215 Super Puma and two H125M helicopters were...

Benin’s Air Force has acquired two H125M helicopters from Airbus and is using them to help combat terrorism in the norther region of the...

Attacks by violent extremists in Benin and Togo are rising. Since the first incidents in 2019 in Benin and 2021 in Togo, insurgents’ tactics...

France has delivered a first batch of VAB armoured vehicles to the Beninese Armed Forces, which will use them for counter-terrorism and other security...

US Department of State’s Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, is visiting Algeria and Benin to focus “on a...

Until November 2021, Benin had been spared from the kind of extremist violence that has ravaged its neighbor to the north, Burkina Faso. Since then,...

The United States has delivered a new 10 metre long patrol boat as well as maintenance and launch facilities to Benin to assist it...

Violent extremism is escalating in West Africa’s coastal states. This is terrifying for citizens but is just the tip of the insurgency iceberg. Under...

Norwegian company Vissim has been contracted by the government of Benin to deliver a coastal monitoring system to improve maritime safety and security and...

Almost 42 tons of cocaine transited through or were intercepted in West African coastal states between 2019 and 2021, says the United Nations Office...

Two soldiers were killed and several more wounded when Islamist militants attacked a border security post in northern Benin on Wednesday night, the army...

US Army General Stephen Townsend, commander, US Africa Command, continued a multi-day visit to West Africa, with stops in Togo and Benin, Ivory Coast...

The government must nip the problem in the bud before violent extremists use abduction to their advantage. Fears are mounting that kidnapping for ransom could...

A Nigerian activist accused by the authorities of plotting a violent insurrection has been detained in neighbouring Benin and is due to be sent...

Political exclusion ahead of the vote is a strategy by incumbents in West Africa to guarantee re-election. On 11 April, Benin will hold its seventh...

Opponents of Benin’s President Patrice Talon protested in several cities and towns on Monday night and Tuesday morning, denouncing his decision to stand for...

Ruling parties are using financial and political barriers to prevent their opponents from running for office. In the past two years, several West African countries...

For civil society and the media to play a meaningful role, they need accurate information about violent extremism. Since 2016, terrorism has become a serious...

Last month Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire jointly conducted Operation Comoé along their borders. They captured 38 suspected terrorists, killed eight, and dismantled training camps. The...

On 17 May 2020 voters in Benin elected their communal and municipal councillors. Elections went ahead despite the COVID-19 pandemic and political tensions, and...

China’s Poly Technologies is constructing military barracks in Allada, Benin, and is due to complete them in September 2021. The Allada barracks are due to...

The Nigerian Navy has been praised for its role in the rescue of 11 crewmembers aboard the cargo vessel Tommi Ritscher after it was...

Pirates attacked a Portuguese-flagged ship and kidnapped its Bulgarian captain and seven sailors off Benin, Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said. A ministry statement said the pirates...

The container vessel Tommi Ritscher has been attacked by suspected pirates off the coast of Benin, and eight crewmembers are believed to have been...

Pirates who kidnapped nine crew members from the cargo vessel MV Bonita in the Gulf of Guinea last month have released those held after...

A vessel owned by Norwegian shipping firm J.J. Ugland was boarded by pirates while at anchor off the coast of Benin and nine crew...

At least two dead, several wounded – this is the official human toll of the violence that occurred after Benin’s contested legislative elections of...

A local guide for two French tourists missing on safari in Benin last week was found shot dead and their car burned out, a...

Security forces in Benin’s commercial capital Cotonou fired weapons to disperse crowds protesting the exclusion of opposition parties from last Sunday’s parliamentary election, Reuters...

Police rescued 216 human trafficking victims, mainly children, from forced labour and prostitution in a major operation in Benin and Nigeria according to Interpol. Operation...

Since February 2018, there have been about 60 terror attacks in the eastern region of Burkina Faso. Although no group has claimed responsibility, the...

Prominent Benin businessman and former presidential candidate Sebastien Ajavon was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison in connection with a...

Benin is hiring scores of extra park rangers and bringing in conservation scientists to rehabilitate part of West Africa's largest wildlife reserve,...

Boko Haram's latest incursions in Cameroon and Nigeria, specifically in the towns of Mora, Madagali and Maiduguri, claimed many victims – both...

Benin security forces seized 54 kg of cocaine from a container that arrived at its main port of Cotonou from Brazil, the...

Authorities in Benin seized 18 kilogrammes of cocaine found in a shipping container at the port of the commercial capital Cotonou, the...

An explosion at a waste dump in Benin killed eight people, local mayor Robert Tolegbon said on Sunday. The blast occurred late on...

Benin stepped up security patrols and roadblocks and increased border security on Saturday in the face of a threat from Islamist militants,...

Businessman Patrice Talon was sworn in as Benin's president before a large crowd on Wednesday, saying he would foster economic development and...

Benin will deploy 150 troops next month to assist a regional task force battling Islamist militant group Boko Haram, a statement from...

Benin began counting votes after an election on Sunday to choose a successor to President Thomas Boni Yayi, who is stepping down...

The presidents of Senegal, Togo, Benin and Nigeria were due to travel to Burkina Faso's capital on Tuesday on a mission to...

Countries waging a regional fight against the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram will take significant steps towards establishing a joint task...

The African Union (AU) might grant a mandate as early as this week for a regional military force to combat Islamist Boko...

Leaders of Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Benin on Tuesday announced plans to step up the fight against Boko Haram with an additional...

Benin has detained 10 people on suspicions of child-trafficking just weeks after a group in neighbouring Niger was held for links to...

Benin's navy has taken delivery of a Metal Shark boat from the United States, which will be used to improve maritime security...

Governments in West Africa should decriminalise drug use and treat the issue as a health problem, because a "war on drugs" will...