West African skies turned volatile on Sunday as Nigerian fighter jets struck targets in neighboring Benin, part of a rapid regional intervention to crush a mutiny threatening President Patrice Talon’s government.

The kinetic response by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)—deploying troops and air power within hours—signals a decisive, perhaps historic, shift in how the bloc handles unconstitutional changes of power following a contagion of coups across the Sahel.

A Swift and Kinetic Response

While President Talon assured citizens late Sunday that the situation was “totally under control,” the scale of the external intervention suggests the threat was severe. Breaking with the tradition of slow diplomatic pressure, ECOWAS mobilized its standby force immediately.

According to a statement from the regional bloc, the intervention force includes personnel from:

• Nigeria: Providing air support and ground troops.
• Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone: Contributing infantry and logistical support.

The objective is explicit: to “support the government and the Republican Army of Benin to preserve constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Benin.”

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, acting on two urgent requests from Porto-Novo, authorized the Nigerian Air Force to secure Benin’s airspace. His office confirmed that fighter jets were ordered to “dislodge the coup plotters from the national TV and a military camp where they had regrouped.”

The Anatomy of the Mutiny

The unrest began earlier on Sunday when a faction of soldiers launched what Interior Minister Alassane Seidou termed a “mutiny” aimed at destabilizing state institutions. The soldiers reportedly stormed the national television station—a classic hallmark of coup attempts in the region—to announce the dissolution of the government.

For Kenyans watching from East Africa, the aggressive military posture by ECOWAS draws parallels to the East African Community’s (EAC) recent deployments in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the direct use of airstrikes by a neighbor against mutineers represents a significant escalation in African conflict management.

Analysts note that Benin, with a population of approximately 14.5 million, has largely avoided the recent wave of instability plaguing its northern neighbors. This rapid crackdown appears designed to prevent the "coup contagion" from reaching the Atlantic coast.

As the dust settles in Cotonou, the message from Abuja and Accra is unmistakable: the era of consequence-free coups in West Africa may be coming to a violent end.