Tensions between Benin and Niger escalated this week as the two West African neighbours carried out reciprocal expulsions of diplomats, diplomatic sources in both countries said on Sunday.
Relations between the countries have been strained since a military junta took power in Niamey in July 2023. The Nigerien regime has repeatedly accused its pro-Western neighbour of seeking to destabilise it, a claim that Cotonou has denied.
Tensions deepened following a foiled coup attempt in Benin in early December, though Benin has not explicitly blamed Niger for the attempt, suspicions lingered regarding Niamey’s possible involvement.
According to a Beninese diplomatic source, Benin expelled an intelligence agent and a police officer stationed at the Niger embassy in Cotonou in recent days, without providing specific reasons. In retaliation, Niger, in a note dated Thursday, declared the first counsellor of Benin’s embassy in Niamey “persona non grata” and gave him 48 hours to leave the country, citing the reciprocal move by Benin.
The attempted coup in Benin on December 7 was foiled by the country’s army with support from neighbouring Nigeria and France. On the day of the putsch, social media in the Sahel region was flooded with fake news supporting the coup leaders.
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Niger is part of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) alongside Burkina Faso and Mali, all of which are ruled by military juntas and have left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The trio has moved closer politically to Moscow and shares an anti-imperialist and pro-sovereignty agenda, frequently criticising West African coastal countries, including Benin and Ivory Coast, which maintain close ties with France.
The latest diplomatic expulsions mark a further deterioration in relations between Benin and Niger, highlighting ongoing regional divisions between Sahelian and coastal West African states.