The Benin Republic presidency says that President Patrice Talon is safe and the army is regaining control from the coup plotters.

This comes shortly after a group of military officers appeared on Benin national television Sunday morning, declaring the removal of the president and all state institutions.

The group of army officials described themselves as the Military Committee for Refoundation.

However, according to AFP, the president’s office said Mr Talon is safe and that the army is regaining control.

“This is a small group of people who only control the television.

“The regular army is regaining control. The city and the country are completely secure,” the agency quoted the Benin presidency as saying.

In the early hours of Sunday, Military personnel in Benin 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.

It urged French citizens to remain indoors for security.

But Talon’s entourage said Talon, who has been president of the west African nation for 10 years and is due to step down in April, was safe.

“This is a small group of people who only control the television. The regular army is regaining control. The city and the country are completely secure,” his office told AFP.

Benin’s political history has been marked by several coups and attempted coups.

Talon, who came to power in 2016, is due to reach the end of his second term in 2026, the maximum allowed by the constitution.

The main opposition party has been excluded from the race to succeed him, and instead the ruling party will vie for power against a so-called “moderate” opposition.

Talon, a 67-year-old former businessman dubbed the “cotton king” of Cotonou, has been praised for bringing economic development to Benin but is regularly accused by his critics of authoritarianism.