With a terrorist insurgency gaining ground just beyond the northern borders of four West African coastal countries, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, Porto-Novo would benefit military assistance from Rwanda. This was promised by the Rwandan Head of State, Paul Kagame, during his official visit to the West African country.
At the invitation of President Patrice Talon, Paul Kagame arrived this weekend with his wife in Cotonou where he participates in several activities.
On Saturday, he exchanged with 100 young entrepreneurs at Sèmè City, a flagship project of the Beninese government dedicated to meeting the skills needs of young Africans through training, research and innovation.
Paul Kagame also had a one-on-one with his Beninese counterpart. According to reports, they exchanged on the friendly relations between the two nations and the common aspiration to transform the lives of citizens through intra-African cooperation.
“What we need to do in Africa is be together, identify what we need in terms of partnerships and who is providing what we need.” said President Kagame during a joint press conference with President Patrice Talon.
We are ready to work with Benin to prevent anything that may happen in the area around its borders,” insisted the Rwandan leader. “There will be no limit” in what “will be accomplished together for the security challenges that arise”, he assured.
“We will go as far as possible if necessary (…) Benin is facing insecurity coming down from the Sahel and the threat is real in northern Benin,” said the Beninese president.
Patrice Talon specified that this cooperation would relate in particular to the “supervision, coaching, training” and “joint deployment” of troops, without further details.