CLAIM: Ten Burkinabe Soldiers Were Among Coup Plotters In Benin Republic
Umoh Umoh
On December 8, 2025, an X user @AmodaOgunlere claimed that 10 Burkinabe soldiers were among the coup plotters who attempted to overthrow the Beninoise government. The post which has the image of Burkina Faso’s leader, Ibrahim Traoré, is captioned “Ibrahim Traore must be declared wanted by ECOWAS … 10 of his soldiers were among the coup plotters in Benin 🇧🇯. He cannot secure his country from terrorist but he wants to go and take over another person’s own. OLOSHI!”
When this report was published, the post had about 86,300 views and over 1,500 replies, reposts, quotes, likes and bookmarks. In the comment section, @Tomadman1 said “I will never support hate on Traore because he’s the kind of courageous and selfless man we lack in our country. I don’t think it’s possible he will be plotting coup in another country, for what exactly?” while @Mr_Unit3d wrote “Coming from a Nigerian ooo Your country is giving freedom to terrorists in Nigeria and your government couldn’t do a thing but you’re here swearing for Traore Chaiii 🤧”.
VERIFICATION
On December 7, 2025, a group of soldiers appeared on Benin republic’s state television and declared they had seized power, dissolving the government and suspending institutions. The group identified itself as the Military Committee for Refoundation, CMR. According to Aljazeera, eight soldiers appeared on screen delivering the announcement and were the core of the putsch. But, in another report published by Aljazeera, the government said the coup was thwarted within hours and that security forces regained control. It was also noted that about a dozen soldiers that were part of the coup are now in custody.
None of the credible mainstream media or official sources covering the Benin coup, including Reuters, AlJazeera and others, mention that any of the coup plotters were from Burkina Faso. The country’s presidency describes them simply as “a small group of people who only control the television” within Benin’s army or National Guard, with no mention of nationality.
There has been no report from the Beninoise government to support this claim nor its Burkinabe counterpart to counter it.
Although, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), an organisation comprising Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, claims to have detained 11 Nigerian soldiers after a forced landing, but this relates to an airspace incident, not the coup plot in Benin
CONCLUSION
The claim that 10 Burkinabe soldiers were among the coup plotters who attempted to overthrow the Beninoise government is FALSE. The media reports consistently describe the mutineers as a small internal group of Beninese soldiers, not foreign troops.
