Attack in the far north of Benin: "This incident is not an isolated incident"

The Koudou falls, in the W. park of Benin.

(Photo: Agnès Rougier/ RFI)

Text by: François Mazet Follow

3 mins

Benin is bereaved by an attack in the far north of the country on Tuesday afternoon, February 8, in the W national park. There is little doubt about the jihadist track.

Should we fear other attacks of this type?

Kars de Bruijne, director of the Sahel program at the Clingendael Institute, answers questions from RFI.

Advertising

Read more

RFI: In Benin, at least seven people were killed on Tuesday February 8: five rangers, a French trainer and a Beninese soldier.

Unclaimed, the incident is the deadliest recorded in the country.

Should we fear other attacks of this type?

Kars de Brijne

Yes, I fear there will be more attacks in northern Benin in the coming months.

There are several reasons for this: there is more and more information about a more regular, if not yet permanent, presence of jihadist actors, who are advancing deeper into Beninese territory, and more arrests as well .

Moreover, this incident is not isolated, there was, on February 4, a group of 40 motorcycles, armed jihadists, in Founougo.

They must have entered Benin through the "triple point", where Tuesday's attack took place.

What do we know about the groups operating in the region?

We know that there are several cells operating

.

Most are linked to JNIM and al-Qaeda.

We suspect, but we do not know for sure, that there is a cell of ISGS, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, operating in Niger on the border with Benin.

For a long time, I thought that their goal was not to attack Benin, but to use them as a rear base.

Over the past six to seven months, it is nevertheless clear that Benin has become a target.

We know that there are recruitments of individuals, and we know that there are contacts with villagers.

When you ask some people who live near the park if they know any jihadists, they say they know the groups and some of the people who have joined them.

So for me, the question of their installation in Benin no longer arises. 

What is their strategy precisely to settle down?

I think you have to look at this from an ultra-local point of view, that's where the jihadists come in.

For example, what we see at the “point triple” is linked to a local problem on the road between “point triple” and Founougou.

In all cases, they seek to insert themselves into small localized communal conflicts and turn them into violent conflicts.

There are three types of community issues that can be exploited: there are tensions between herders and farmers, those around land and land disputes, and then there is also dissatisfaction of some communities with the 'African Parks, as the park is closed to their activities.

These are common things.

We have been collecting data for a year and a half in northern Benin, and these are the elements that come up most often.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• Benign

• Terrorism