Rwandan President Paul Kagame met his Beninese counterpart Patrice Talon on Saturday, to whom he promised military support in the face of jihadists overflowing on his northern border from Burkina Faso.
Authorities in Burkina are failing to contain a jihadist insurgency that is gaining ground just beyond the northern borders of four West African coastal countries, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast .
Benin had already announced last year that it was in talks about military and logistical cooperation with Rwanda, whose troops have already been deployed by Paul Kagame to fight insurgencies in Mozambique and the Central African Republic.
“
We are ready to work with Benin to prevent anything that may happen in the area around its borders
,” the Rwandan president said on Saturday in Cotonou during a press conference with Patrice Talon.
"
There will be no limit
" in what "
will be accomplished together for the security challenges that are necessary
", he assured.
"
We will go as far as possible if necessary (...) Benin is confronted with the insecurity that descends from the Sahel and the threat is real in the north of Benin
", for his part said the Beninese president.
Patrice Talon indicated that this cooperation would relate in particular to "
supervision, coaching, training
" and "
joint deployment
" of troops, without further details.
The withdrawal of the French army from Mali due to rising tensions with the ruling junta and instability in Burkina Faso have prompted Westerners to refocus their aid on the coastal countries of the Gulf of Guinea to prevent the southward spread of jihadist attacks that bloody the Sahel.
Benin, Togo and Ivory Coast have already suffered attacks in border regions they have attributed to jihadists, while Ghana has recently increased its military presence along its northern border.