Armed men in Cotonou, a grounded Nigerian military plane in Bobo Dioulasso, and frantic troop movements across capitals - West Africa’s recent weeks read like a geopolitical fever dream.
Starting in the Benin Republic, where an attempted putsch, declared by a self-styled “Military Committee for Refoundation (CMR)” led by Lt. Col. Pascal Tigris, was bluntly denounced and crushed within 24 hours after loyal forces, backed by Nigerian air strikes and regional deployments, reasserted control. Meanwhile, the Alliance of Sahel States (Mali, Niger,
