Nigerian troops held in Burkina Faso after ‘unfriendly’ emergency landing

Eleven Nigerian military personnel are being held in Burkina Faso after a Nigerian plane reportedly entered Burkinabé airspace without authorisation on Monday, the latest twist in a region enmeshed in multiple political and security crises.

In a statement on Monday evening, the breakaway Alliance of Sahel States (AES), of which Burkina Faso is a member alongside Mali and Niger, said the C-130 transport aircraft had made an emergency landing in Bobo Dioulasso.

In the statement, Assimi Goita, the Malian junta president and leader of the AES, called the landing an “unfriendly act carried out in defiance of international law”. He directed the authorities in the member countries to act “to neutralise any aircraft that would violate the confederal space” in future.

On Monday, Nigerian authorities said the aircraft had been en route to Portugal for a ferry mission before “a technical concern which necessitated a precautionary landing”.

“[The] crew is safe and have received cordial treatment from the host authorities,” said Ehimen Ejodame, the Nigerian air force spokesperson who signed the statement. “Plans are ongoing to resume the mission as scheduled.”

The incident unfolded less than 24 hours after Nigeria took part in an intervention in Benin, Burkina Faso’s south-eastern neighbour, after a group of soldiers seized control of the national television station in Cotonou and announced the ousting of the president, Patrice Talon.

Authorities in Benin later said they had foiled the coup attempt and restored order, preventing what would have been the eighth successful coup in west Africa in five years.

A statement from the Nigerian government said its airstrikes –targeting a military base in Cotonou where some of the coup planners were reportedly holed up – happened at the behest of Talon and were in compliance with the protocols of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas). Ivorian aircraft were also seen hovering over Beninese airspace during the crisis, pointing to a coordinated response by countries aligned with the regional bloc.

The states that make up the AES broke away from Ecowas, headquartered in Nigeria, after Ecowas threatened military intervention in Niger in 2023 to reinstate the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, after he was ousted in a coup. The AES states accuse Ecowas of breaching territorial integrity and being a puppet of the west and have also drawn closer to Russia.

By Eromo Egbejule, The Guardian

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Nigerian authorities freed 100 schoolchildren kidnapped last month in Niger state. The release was confirmed by the Christian Association of Nigeria.

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Nigeria says it deployed jets, troops to Benin to ‘dislodge coup plotters’

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has confirmed deploying fighter jets and ground troops to neighbouring Benin to help foil a coup attempt by a group of Beninese soldiers.

In a statement on Sunday, Tinubu’s office said Nigeria’s military intervened in Benin after President Patrice Talon’s government issued two requests for help, including for “immediate Nigerian air support”.

Tinubu first ordered Nigerian fighter jets to enter Benin and “take over the airspace to help dislodge the coup plotters from the National TV and a military camp where they had regrouped”, the statement said.

Nigeria’s military sent in ground troops later, after Benin’s government asked for their support in “the protection of constitutional institutions and the containment of armed groups”, it said.

Tinubu praised his troops and said they had helped “stabilise a neighbouring country”.

The Nigerian statement came shortly after Talon, the president of Benin, appeared on national television and said his security forces had successfully blocked the attempt to overthrow his government.

Talon promises punishment

Talon said forces loyal to him “stood firm, recaptured our positions, and cleared the last pockets of resistance held by the mutineers”.

“This commitment and mobilisation enabled us to defeat these adventurers and to prevent the worst for our country,” he said. “This treachery will not go unpunished.”

The Benin president added that his thoughts were with the victims of the coup attempt as well as with a number of people who have been held by the fleeing mutineers.

He did not give details.

The unrest was the latest threat to democratic governance in the region, where militaries have in recent years seized power in Benin’s neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as in Mali, Guinea and, only last month, Guinea-Bissau. But it was an unexpected development in Benin, where the last successful coup took place in 1972.

A government spokesperson, Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji, said that 14 people had been arrested in connection with the coup attempt as of Sunday afternoon, without providing details.

One security source told the AFP news agency that all the detainees were soldiers in active service, except one who was ex-military. It was not clear if Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri, the coup leader, had been apprehended.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Olushegun Adjadi Bakari told the Reuters news agency that the soldiers had only managed to briefly take control of the state TV network.

While gunfire had been heard in some locations of the country’s commercial hub, Cotonou, during the coup attempt, the city has been relatively calm since early afternoon, according to residents.

ECOWAS to send troops

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc and the African Union also condemned the coup attempt.

In a statement later on Sunday, ECOWAS said it had ordered the immediate deployment of elements of its standby force to Benin, including troops from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast and Ghana.

It said the troops would help the Beninese government and army “preserve constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Benin”.

The coup attempt came as Benin prepares for a presidential election in April, which is expected to mark the end of Talon’s tenure.

Last month, Benin adopted a new constitution, creating a Senate and extending the presidential mandate from five to seven years. Critics have described the reforms as a power grab by the governing coalition, which has chosen Minister of Economy and Finance Romuald Wadagni as its candidate.

The opposition Democrats party, founded by Talon’s predecessor, Thomas Boni Yayi, has meanwhile seen its proposed candidate rejected because of what a court ruled was insufficient backing from lawmakers.

Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, deputy director of the Sahel Project at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that the coup bids in Benin and other African countries have been partly driven by governments rejecting their democratic responsibilities.

“In recent days and recent months, we have all been holding our breath about what could happen in many countries that are either facing security situations that are bad, or are coming to an election, where there is no clarity on whether the rulers will be respecting the rules of the democratic game,” Yahaya said.

“That is a good part of the story [in Benin]. President Talon has accepted to step down in a context where many other leaders are trying to add new terms. We saw it in Cote d’Ivoire, we saw it in Cameroon recently, and many other cases. But the less positive part of the story is that the leader of the opposition’s candidacy has been invalidated in Benin,” he added.

By David D. Lee, Al Jazeera

One hundred abducted schoolchildren released in Nigeria

About 100 children who were abducted from a Catholic school in central Nigeria last month have been freed, authorities say.

Niger state's police chief, Adamu Abdullahi Elleman, and Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, who is in charge of the school as the local leader of the Catholic community, both told the BBC that they had received confirmation of the students' release.

They said the news had been confirmed by the president's national security advisor, but Bishop Yohanna said it was not clear when the children would be reunited with their parents.

More than 250 students and 12 staff were kidnapped from St Mary's Catholic school in Papiri, the latest in a wave of mass abductions.

Bishop Yohanna said he presumed the authorities may need time to process the pupils and provide necessary support before announcing a formal handover. He added that he did not know the students' current whereabouts.

Details about their release remain unclear, including whether it was secured through negotiation or by force, and whether any ransoms were paid.

The governor of neighbouring Nasarawa state, Abdullahi Sule, told local media that the federal government had played a key role in securing their release, adding that the behind-the-scenes efforts could not be disclosed for security reasons.

Last week, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu visited Papiri and met a delegation led by Bishop Yohanna, assuring them the children would soon be rescued and reunited with their families.

Schools and places of worship have increasingly been targeted in the latest wave of attacks in north and central Nigeria.

The attack on St Mary's, on 21 November, was preceded by mass kidnappings just days earlier: on 18 November, two people were killed and 38 abducted in an attack on the Christ Apostolic Church in Kwara state, and a day before that, two were killed and 25 Muslim students abducted from Government Girls' Secondary School in Kebbi state.

All those taken in the Kwara and Kebbi attacks have since been freed.

Last week gunmen abducted at least 20 people in two separate attacks - at a newly established church in central Kogi state, where a pastor, his wife and some worshipers were taken, and in the mostly Muslim northern Sokoto state, where a bride and her bridesmaids were among those kidnapped.

It is not clear who is behind these kidnappings - most analysts believe they are carried out by criminal gangs seeking ransom payments. However, a presidential spokesman earlier told the BBC that the government believes they are the work of jihadist groups.

The paying of ransoms has been made illegal in Nigeria in an attempt to cut the supply of funds to the kidnap gangs but it is widely believed that in many cases money is still handed over.

Nigeria's security crisis attracted the international spotlight last month after US President Donald Trump threatened to send over troops if the government "continues to allow the killing of Christians".

Nigerian officials and analysts say that members of all faiths are victims of the violence and kidnappings and say it is not true that Christians are being targeted.

By Madina Maishanu and Basillioh Rukanga, BBC