Category World News

Cotonou, Benin – The Dantokpa market in Cotonou is once again a whirlwind of activity, just days after a failed bid to topple the Beninese government.

Pedestrians and cart pushers jostle in the narrow streets, a sign that daily life is returning to normal following the brief but intense crisis.

Among the bustling crowds, petty traders like Abel Ayihuonsou are back to selling their goods, eager for information about the attempted putsch and what it means for the nation’s future.

“For the moment, everything is back to normal. And that’s very good for the country and we are happy,” Ayihuonsou said, summarising the widespread relief.

The failed putsch

The crisis began on Sunday morning when a group of soldiers seized the national television station and announced the deposition of President Patrice Talon.

However, the attempted coup was swiftly defeated by forces loyal to the president, critically supported by the Nigerian Air Force.

While former colonial power France and regional country Ivory Coast offered Benin support, Nigerian forces, alongside loyalist troops, were instrumental in quashing the rebellion.

Nigeria deployed military jets to target the mutineers, as forces loyal to Benin’s president surrounded a base where the plotters had holed up. This coordinated action forced the coup leaders to retreat from both the state television station they had occupied and the presidential palace they had tried to take by force.

By Sunday afternoon, the interior minister had released a statement saying Beninese army leadership had “foiled the attempt”. And that evening, Talon appeared on state television promising to punish those responsible.

“I would like to assure you that the situation is completely under control and therefore invite you to calmly go about your activities starting this very evening,” the president said.

Beninese journalist Moise Dosumou highlighted the strategic nature of the intervention, suggesting that although Benin requested help, Nigeria’s prompt reaction was key as a regional power.

“A threat of instability at its doorstep would inevitably spill over onto both Nigeria and ECOWAS,” Dosumou observed.

Nigeria’s role in Benin, although commended by the African Union, regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and other international bodies, drew criticism at home.

Some Nigerians wondered how Nigerian fighter jets thwarted a coup in a foreign country, while seemingly unable to do the same to bandits and armed groups terrorising villagers at home.

A region in flux

The failed coup comes at a precarious time for the region.

Several West African countries have witnessed coups in recent years, including Benin’s northern neighbours, Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Mali, Chad, Guinea and, most recently, Guinea-Bissau, where soldiers seized power last month.

A successful takeover in Benin would have further weakened ECOWAS, which suspended Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger following the successful military takeovers there. These three nations then formed their own confederate alliance known as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

Many in the AES states welcomed the initial announcement by the Beninese coup leaders on Sunday.

Analysts believe that a successful coup in Benin could have led the country, which is also battling armed groups, to join the AES, further isolating ECOWAS.

The government maintains that the coup was homegrown, but suggests the scope of the investigation is broad.

“But if investigations allow us to trace it back to a foreign country or foreign forces that contributed to it, we will also, within the framework of international cooperation, express our disapproval and condemnation to those actors,” said Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji, spokesman for the Benin government.

The coup’s shock isn’t limited to Benin politics. The small West African country is an important maritime hub. Many countries in the region, especially the landlocked nation of Niger, relied heavily on the port of Cotonou for imports and exports.

That relation took a hit after the military takeover in Niamey in 2023. Benin’s implementation of ECOWAS sanctions in the aftermath of the coup damaged relations between the two neighbours. Niger now relies on supplies from Togolese ports that are rerouted through Mali and Burkina Faso, forcing up the cost of goods because of the additional logistics.

The instability is not limited to Benin. ECOWAS also recently suspended Guinea-Bissau after the military seized power there following a contested presidential election.

Across the region, many people are disgruntled by the attitude of politicians. It’s little surprise that coups in the region, whether failed or successful, receive at least some support from the individuals who see politicians as nothing more than an elite group mostly concerned about their own interests.

Benin officials, however, said the country isn’t where it is supposed to be, but remarkable progress has been made in various sectors, like infrastructure development and investments, in apparent reaction to a string of accusations levelled against the president and his government.

The future of Benin’s democracy

President Talon, who survived the attempt, is set to complete his second term, backed by ECOWAS, whose forces have been deployed to help secure the country’s 34-year-old democracy.

The attempted coup, however, has fundamentally shaken the nation’s confidence that its democratic stability was permanent.

Presidential elections are scheduled for next April. Although Talon is not running, some critics perceive his influence in the weakening of the opposition, potentially smoothing the path for the governing party’s candidate.

It remains unclear how long Nigerian fighter jets and ECOWAS troops will be deployed to deter future attempts by disgruntled soldiers.

Meanwhile, for people in the region, the failed coup is a stark reminder that stability can be fragile. And many fear that the recent surge in successful and failed coups across the continent means West Africa risks reclaiming its notoriety as a region prone to military takeovers.

Riot police moved in to put out fires started by protesters outside Portugal’s parliament, on the day of a general strike over the government’s planned labour reforms.

The United States is planning to require some visitors to provide their social media history from the past five years, according to US President Donald Trump’s administration.

This requirement will apply to visitors who do not need a visa to enter the US.

Here is a closer look at this proposal:

What is the US planning to do?

The proposal was announced on the Federal Register by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Wednesday. It will enable officials to collect up to five years of social media history from travellers from certain visa-waiver countries before they can enter the country.

The proposal states that this mandatory social media history disclosure is in line with Executive Order 14161, signed by Trump in January 2025.

That order, titled “Protecting the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats”, required US government agencies to increase their vetting of foreign nationals entering the country.

Who would this affect?

The requirement will apply to travellers using the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) under the US’s Visa Waiver Program.

The Visa Waiver Program permits citizens of 42 countries – including the United Kingdom, Germany, Qatar, Greece, Malta, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Israel and South Korea – to travel to the US for tourism or business purposes for up to 90 days.

At present, the ESTA automatically screens applicants and grants travel approval without requiring an in-person interview at a US embassy or consulate, unlike standard visa applications. Applicants are required to provide a more limited set of information, such as their parents’ names, current email address and details of any past criminal record.

Since 2016, the ESTA has included an optional question asking travellers to disclose their social media information.

How would this work?

Once the proposal comes into effect, visitors will be required to provide CBP with a list of their social media handles or usernames used over the past five years.

The visitors would not have to give CBP their social media log‑in credentials or passwords. They will use this information to review the publicly accessible information on the social media profiles of these visitors.

The new notice also states that travellers will have to provide additional personal information, including all telephone numbers used over the past five years and email addresses used over the previous 10 years.

Authorities also said they plan to add what are described as “high-value data fields” to the ESTA application “when feasible”. These will include metadata from electronically submitted photographs, extensive personal details about applicants’ family members, such as their places of birth and telephone numbers used over the past five years, as well as biometric information, including fingerprints, DNA and iris data.

The announcement did not include information about what the administration will be looking for within social media accounts of visitors or why it is asking for that information.

It is unclear when the proposal will take effect. However, the public now has 60 days to submit comments about the proposed changes before they are finalised, the notice in the Federal Register states.

Why is the US government doing this now?

Travellers from non-Visa Waiver Program countries have been required to disclose their social media handles since 2019. This is an extension of that.

That measure was first introduced by the Trump administration during his first term as president, and was kept in place during President Joe Biden’s tenure.

The CBP and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have been seeking to significantly broaden the existing social media disclosure rules for some time.

“USCIS has proposed to extend the social media disclosure requirement to applicants for other immigration benefits as well – up through naturalisation,” Caroline DeCell, a senior staff attorney and legislative adviser at Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute, told Al Jazeera.

In June this year, the State Department also announced that it now requires all F, M and J visa applicants to make their social media profiles public as part of enhanced screening to identify national security threats.

Most social media platforms allow users to either keep their profiles private or make them public.

Private profiles can only be viewed by people actively added as friends – this includes all posts, photos, videos or other content posted by the profile user. Content posted on public profiles can be viewed by anyone.

This relates to student visas for those enrolled in accredited colleges, or in vocational or technical, non‑academic educational programmes. It also covers exchange visitors participating in approved exchange study programmes.

“A US visa is a privilege, not a right,” the State Department statement from June said.

What are the privacy implications of this?

DeCell said that if the CBP proposal is approved, the privacy implications would be “significant” as it will require disclosure not only of social media handles, but also of all phone numbers used in the past five years and email addresses used in the past 10 years, as well as biometric data.

“Even travellers who post publicly on social media typically maintain some expectation of obscurity, if not privacy, online. And those who use pseudonymous social media handles or email addresses would be directly deprived of their online anonymity,” she said.

DeCell added that if the USCIS proposal to seek this information for all immigration visa and citizenship applicants is also approved, besides the CBP proposal for travellers from visa waiver countries, “then nearly every non-US citizen who seeks to enter or remain in the United States would be subject to indefinite social media surveillance by the US government”.

Under the USCIS proposal, US citizens who petition in support of their relatives’ immigration applications would also be subjected to this “surveillance”.

What are the implications for freedom of speech?

The First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees the freedom of religion, speech, the press and peaceful assembly.

However, DeCell warned that this expanding system will deter free speech online and many foreigners will be put off from travelling to the US, whether for work or leisure.