"I want to assure you that the situation is completely under control. Security and public order will be maintained throughout the national territory," Talon said on state television.
Nigeria's air force has attacked targets in Benin in consultation with the country's government, a Nigerian government source told AFP. It is unclear what was attacked.
Ecowas announced in a statement that soldiers from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Ghana are being sent to Benin to "maintain the constitutional order and territorial integrity of the Republic of Benin."
Canceled TV broadcast
The coup attempt became known when a group of soldiers, calling themselves the Military Committee for Reconstruction, interrupted a television broadcast earlier on Sunday to claim that the government had been dissolved and the president had been deposed.
The information was later denied by the president's office, which stated that Patrice Talon was safe and that the regular military had regained control.
"A small group of soldiers started a mutiny with the aim of destabilizing the country and its institutions," Benin's Interior Minister Alassane Seidou said in a statement.
The French embassy announced on X that “shootings had been reported at Camp Guezo” near the president’s official residence. It also urged French citizens to stay indoors for safety reasons.
In power since 2016
The president, who has been in power since 2016, has said he intends to step down in April next year after the election. Former finance minister Romuald Wadgni is the favourite, while opposition candidate Renaud Agbodjo was rejected by the electoral commission on the grounds that he did not have enough sponsors.
Last month, the country's parliament extended the president's term from five to seven years, with a two-term limit.
The coup attempt in Benin is the latest in a series of similar events on the turbulent African continent in recent years. This fall alone, the presidents of both Guinea-Bissau and Madagascar have been overthrown in military coups.
