Military personnel in Benin on Sunday announced that they had ousted President Patrice Talon, although his entourage said he was safe and the army was regaining control.

Talon, a 67-year-old former businessman dubbed the "cotton king of Cotonou", is due to hand over power in April next year after 10 years in office marked by solid economic growth but also a surge in jihadist violence.

West Africa has experienced a number of coups in recent years, including in Benin's northern neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Mali, Guinea and, most recently, Guinea-Bissau.

Early on Sunday, 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 republi

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