Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, met with Patrice Talon, the president of Benin, on Saturday and pledged military assistance to help Benin stop the spread of Islamist strife across Burkina Faso’s northern border.
As Burkina Faso battles to manage an militant insurgency that is gaining foothold just beyond their northern borders, coastal nations in West Africa Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Ivory Coast are prepared for a potential spillover.
Last year, Benin claimed to be in negotiations with Rwanda, whose forces Kagame had sent to assist Mozambique and the Central African Republic in quelling unrest, about military and logistical cooperation.
“We are ready to work with Benin to prevent anything that may happen around its borders,” Kagame said at a press conference with Talon in Cotonou.
“There will be no limit” in what “will be accomplished together for security challenges.”
Although the head of Benin suggested that the cooperation might involve “supervision, coaching, training, and joint deployment,” specifics of the arrangement were not immediately evident.
French troop withdrawal from Mali amid escalating tensions with the junta there and instability in Burkina Faso have refocused Western allies to support Gulf of Guinea coastal nations in their efforts to halt the expansion of the Islamist militant struggle in the Sahel southward.
While Ghana has increased its military presence along its own northern borders, Benin, Togo, and the Ivory Coast have all seen attacks in border regions that have been attributed to jihadists.
According to a statement from Benin’s foreign ministry, Talon and Kagame met privately to discuss bilateral relations and “the search for strategic partnership” in a number of fields, including security.
According to the statement, they talked about “the terrorist threat and its spread” as well as ways to improve collaboration to combat it.
“The Rwandan army has experience and is seasoned,” Talon said.
Since 2021, there have been about 20 incursions into Benin’s territory from Islamist wars beyond its northern border in Burkina Faso and Niger.
The deployment of Rwandan troops on the ground in Benin would not be included in any deal, a senior government official from Benin had stated last year.
The chief of army staff of Benin’s armed forces, Brigadier General Fructueux Gbaguidi, traveled to Rwanda last year for discussions aimed at strengthening the already-existing ties between the two militaries.
States in the Gulf of Guinea have reinforced their military presence along the northern border, and Togo has declared an emergency in its most remote areas. Recently, 1,000 extra soldiers and police were dispatched to Ghana’s northern border region.