Latest news with #WilfriedLeandreHoungbedji
Khaleej Times
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
54 soldiers killed after terrorist attack on military posts in Benin
Suspected insurgents killed 54 troops in an attack last week on military posts in a Benin national park, the government said Wednesday. Government spokesman Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji gave the new toll to a press briefing on the April 17 attack in the W national park in northern Benin, close to the frontiers with Burkina Faso and Niger. Authorities had previously said eight soldiers were killed. This is the heaviest official toll since the start of attacks in the north. The attack was claimed by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM or JNIM in Arabic) which is affiliated with al Qaeda. It had said 70 Beninese soldiers were killed. "Even if its not the 70 ... it's a lot," the government spokesman acknowledged. "The soldiers who have fallen are our children, our parents, our friends," he said. The country deployed nearly 3,000 soldiers to secure its borders in January 2022. It later sent an additional 5,000 troops to bolster security in the north. Twenty-eight Benin soldiers were killed near the border between Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso in January in an attack also claimed by the GSIM.
Arab News
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Benin's tension with Niger, Burkina Faso opens door for terrorists
ABIDJAN: Diplomatic tensions between Benin and its junta-led Sahel neighbors Niger and Burkina Faso have led to a security vacuum which jihadists are exploiting with ever-deadlier attacks, analysts said. North Benin, which borders both Niger and Burkina Faso, has seen a recent rise in strikes targeting army positions, with an attack last week claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists killing 54 soldiers, the deadliest toll given by officials so far. Benin's government has blamed those attacks on a spillover from Niger and Burkina Faso, both ruled by army officers who took power in coups on the promise of quashing the Sahel region's long-running terror scourge. But with Niger and Burkina Faso's juntas accusing Benin of hosting army bases for Western powers hoping to destabilize them — accusations Benin denies — there is little collaboration between the two sides on tackling the issue. 'If Benin goes it alone and there is no response from the other side, it will remain in a state of crisis, with terrorist groups having found an El Dorado on its borders,' said Beninese political scientist Emmanuel Odilon Koukoubou at the Civic Academy for Africa's Future, a think tank. The Beninese government shares that view. 'Our situation would be much easier if we had decent cooperation with the countries which surround us,' government spokesman Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji said on Wednesday. 'If on the other side of the border there were (security) arrangements at the very least like ours, these attacks would not take place in this way or even happen at all,' he insisted. Both Burkina Faso and Niger are located in the Sahel, a region of the world which saw half of 2024's deaths from terrorist attacks, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index ublished in March. For the second year running, Burkina Faso took the top spot in the GTI's list of countries worst affected by terrorism. Niger meanwhile ranked fifth, just behind fellow junta-led Sahel ally Mali. 'The growing presence of jihadists in the south of Burkina Faso and Niger along with the limited capacity of the armed forces of Sahel countries along their borders have allowed jihadist groups to create cells in territories like north Benin,' Control Risks analyst Beverly Ochieng said. And the forested areas of Benin's W and Pendjari national parks near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger 'offer an additional layer of cover for jihadist activities,' Ochieng said. 'With only limited aerial surveillance, Islamists can move about within these zones without being detected,' she added. The W national park was the scene of the April 17 attack, which Benin said resulted in the death of 54 soldiers, though the Al-Qaeda affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, or JNIM, claimed to have killed 70. The JNIM is 'the most influential group' in north Benin, said Lassina Diarra, Director of the Strategic Research Institute at the International Academy against Terrorism in Jacqueville, Ivory Coast. This was 'because there is a sociological, ethnic and territorial continuity with southern Burkina Faso, which is beyond the control of that state,' Diarra added. According to Control Risks' Ochieng, 'it is likely that the JNIM wats to use this area (of north Benin) to encircle Burkina Faso, thus reinforcing its influence and presence.' On Thursday, a key regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS, again underlined 'the imperious necessity of an indispensable and reinforced cooperation' to tackle the problem. But in a West Africa that is more fractured than ever, that is easier said than done. Besides turning their backs on the West, the junta-led trio of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali have all pulled out of ECOWAS, accusing the bloc of being a tool for what they see as former colonial ruler France's neo-imperialist ambitions. Banding together as the Alliance of Sahel States or AES, the three have created a unified army and conduct joint anti-jihadist operations. Yet the trio has closed off cooperation on rooting out Islamist violence in countries they consider too pro-Western, Benin and Ivory Coast among them. That said, the AES cooperates with Togo and, since December, Ghana, while Nigeria has mounted a diplomatic charm offensive to renew its security cooperation with Niger, suspended since the coup which brought the junta to power in July 2023. For its part, Benin needs to back up military action with social support, by stepping up community-building to prevent the mass recruitment of Beninese people into jihadist groups, according to the analysts. 'However, this will remain difficult without cooperation from the Sahel, as this is where the root of the insurgency lies,' warned Ochieng.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Benin admits that 54 soldiers killed in attack by al-Qaeda group
Benin's government has admitted that 54 soldiers were killed by suspected jihadists in the country's north last week near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger. The authorities had previously said that only eight soldiers were killed. The revised figure makes it the deadliest known attack since insurgents began operating in northern Benin at the beginning of the decade. The attack has been claimed by an al-Qaeda-linked group - Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, (Jnim), which is based in Mali but has in recent years expanded its operations to neighbouring countries. The jihadist group had said it killed 70 soldiers in raids on two military posts in the north, according to intelligence group SITE. Jnim is one of several jihadist groups operating in West Africa's Sahel region, especially Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, where the military governments are struggling to contain the insurgency. Benin and Togo have seen a rise in jihadist activity in recent years, as groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda spread to the south. "Heavy losses for the nation," wrote presidential spokesman Serge Nonvignon in a Facebook post on Wednesday. Another government spokesperson, Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji, said that Benin was determined to continue the fight against the jihadists. "We won't give in... I can assure you that sooner or later, sooner or later, we will win," he said. Africa's Sahel becomes latest al-Qaeda-IS battleground The region with more 'terror deaths' than rest of world combined Is Africa overtaking the Middle East as the new jihadist battleground? Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Africa Daily Focus on Africa
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Benin admits that 54 soldiers killed in attack by al-Qaeda group
Benin's government has admitted that 54 soldiers were killed by suspected jihadists in the country's north last week near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger. The authorities had previously said that only eight soldiers were killed. The revised figure makes it the deadliest known attack since insurgents began operating in northern Benin at the beginning of the decade. The attack has been claimed by an al-Qaeda-linked group - Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, (Jnim), which is based in Mali but has in recent years expanded its operations to neighbouring countries. The jihadist group had said it killed 70 soldiers in raids on two military posts in the north, according to intelligence group SITE. Jnim is one of several jihadist groups operating in West Africa's Sahel region, especially Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, where the military governments are struggling to contain the insurgency. Benin and Togo have seen a rise in jihadist activity in recent years, as groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda spread to the south. "Heavy losses for the nation," wrote presidential spokesman Serge Nonvignon in a Facebook post on Wednesday. Another government spokesperson, Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji, said that Benin was determined to continue the fight against the jihadists. "We won't give in... I can assure you that sooner or later, sooner or later, we will win," he said. Africa's Sahel becomes latest al-Qaeda-IS battleground The region with more 'terror deaths' than rest of world combined Is Africa overtaking the Middle East as the new jihadist battleground? Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Africa Daily Focus on Africa
BBC News
24-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Benin admits that 54 soldiers killed in border attack by Jnim
Benin's government has admitted that 54 soldiers were killed by suspected jihadists in the country's north last week near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger. The authorities had previously said that only eight soldiers were killed. The revised figure makes it the deadliest known attack since insurgents began operating in northern Benin at the beginning of the decade. The attack has been claimed by an al-Qaeda-linked group - Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, (Jnim), which is based in Mali but has in recent years expanded its operations to neighbouring countries. The jihadist group had said it killed 70 soldiers in raids on two military posts in the north, according to intelligence group is one of several jihadist groups operating in West Africa's Sahel region, especially Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, where the military governments are struggling to contain the and Togo have seen a rise in jihadist activity in recent years, as groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda spread to the south."Heavy losses for the nation," wrote presidential spokesman Serge Nonvignon in a Facebook post on government spokesperson, Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji, said that Benin was determined to continue the fight against the jihadists."We won't give in... I can assure you that sooner or later, sooner or later, we will win," he said. More about the Islamist insurgency in West Africa: Africa's Sahel becomes latest al-Qaeda-IS battlegroundThe region with more 'terror deaths' than rest of world combinedIs Africa overtaking the Middle East as the new jihadist battleground? Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
