Benin: a military exercise to confront terrorism
In Benin, it is the end of the very first counter-terrorism military exercise in an urban area since 2021, where the first terrorist attacks began in the North. A little less than a thousand men were mobilized for Operation Metropolis 2024, which ended at the end of the week. The objective is to be operational and effective in the event of attacks in urban areas.
Beninese soldiers on patrol (illustrative image). © Magali Lagrange/RFI
By: RFI Follow
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With our correspondent in Cotonou,
Jean-Luc Aplogan
The exercise called Metropolis 2024 lasted four days on the outskirts of Cotonou on a site which offered the possibility of intervention by land, sea, or air. The exercise mobilized just under 900 special forces elements from the army, air force, navy and police. They worked on an expatriate hostage-taking scenario, claimed with a ransom demand.
Negotiations with the kidnappers failed, so the special forces had to attack and free the hostages. It was an essentially Beninese operation, there were no foreign evaluators or instructors, an officer insists on this detail. The chief of staff and the ministers of Defense and Security came on the last day to debrief with the men.
The great mute kept the evaluations to herself, we do not know whether the results are satisfactory or not. Métropolis 2024 deployed for the occasion a medical mission for the populations residing in the exercise area.
Read alsoHow Benin has responded since 2022 to terrorist activities in the north of its territory
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