1977 Beninese coup attempt
| 1977 Beninese coup attempt | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Cold War in Africa | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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Supported by North Korea |
France (Covertly)
Supported by Togo Ivory Coast Gabon Morocco | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Mathieu Kérékou | Bob Denard (WIA) | ||||||
| History of Benin |
|---|
| History of the Kingdom of Dahomey |
| Pre-colonial history |
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| Colonial history |
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| Post-colonial history |
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On 17 January 1977, a group of French-led mercenaries tried and failed to overthrow the government of the People's Republic of Benin led by Mathieu Kérékou, whose communist party—the People's Revolutionary Party of Benin (PRPB)—was the only allowed political party in the country. The coup, which was also known as Opération Crevette ("Operation Shrimp"), included a failed invasion of the port city of Cotonou by mercenaries contracted by a group of exiled Beninese political rivals.[1]
Bob Denard was the leader of the mercenary group and although Jacques Foccart denied knowledge of the attempted coup after its failure, he did recognize that it was backed by Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo), Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Ivory Coast), Omar Bongo (Gabon) and Hassan II (Morocco), all allies of France.[2] Documents accidentally left behind by Denard during the coup attempt further substantiated the involvement of Bongo, Hassan, Eyadéma and French counsellor on African affairs René Journiac.[3][4]
The coup would be one of several against Kérékou who survived numerous attempts to oust him, including two coup attempts in 1988.[5]
References
- ^ Adesina, Olutayo (2005). "Benin, Republic of (Dahomey) Kérékou, Mathieu (1935–)". In Shillington, Kevin (ed.). Encyclopedia of African History. pp. 242+. ISBN 9781579582456.
- ^ Bob Denard, chien de guerre Archived October 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, L'Humanité, 4 May 1999 (in French)
- ^ Bat, Jean-Pierre (2016). "Le secteur N (Afrique) et la fin de la Guerre froide". Relations internationales. 165 (1): 43–56. doi:10.3917/ri.165.0043. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
- ^ Borrel, Thomas; Boukari-Yabara, Amzat; Collombat, Benoît; Deltombe, Thomas (2023). "La folie des grandeurs. Armes, pétrole et nucléaire". Une histoire de la Françafrique: L'empire qui ne veut pas mourir. Paris: Seuil. p. 445. ISBN 9782757897751.
- ^ "Benin profile – Timeline". BBC News. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.