The 1977 Benin coup d'état attempt, ''Opération Crevette'' or Operation Shrimp was a failed attempt by a team of French-led

mercenaries A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...

to overthrow the government of the

People's Republic of Benin The People's Republic of Benin (; sometimes translated literally as the Benin Popular Republic or Popular Republic of Benin) was a socialist state located in the Gulf of Guinea on the African continent, which became present-day Benin in 1990 ...

which was led by

Mathieu Kérékou Mathieu Kérékou (; 2 September 1933 – 14 October 2015) was a Beninese politician who served as president of the People's Republic of Benin from 1972 to 1991 and the Benin, Republic of Benin from 1996 to 2006. After seizing power in a milita ...

whose communist party, the

People's Revolutionary Party of Benin People's, branded as ''People's ViennaLine'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH'', is an Austria, Austro-Switzerland, Swiss airline headquartered in Vienna, Austria. It operates schedul ...

(PRPB), was the only allowed political party in the country. The coup took place on 17 January 1977 and included a failed invasion of the port city of

Cotonou Cotonou (; ) is the largest city in Benin. Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area. The urban area continues to expand, notably toward the west. The city lies ...

by mercenaries contracted by a group of exiled Beninese political rivals. Bob Denard was the leader of the mercenary group and although Jacques Foccart denied knowledge of the attempted coup after its failure, he did recognize that it had been backed-up by Gnassingbé Eyadéma (

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

), Félix Houphouët-Boigny (

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

Omar Bongo Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second president of Gabon from 1967 until Death and state funeral of Omar Bongo, his death in 2009. A member of the Gabonese De ...

(

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

) and Hassan II (

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

), all allies of France.Bob Denard, chien de guerre
, ''

L'Humanité (; ) is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organisation of the SFIO, ''de facto'', and thereafter of the French Communist Party (PCF), and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, would not exist." History ...

'', 4 May 1999 Documents accidentally left behind by Denard during the coup attempt further substantiated the involvement of Bongo, Hassan, Eyadéma and French counsellor on African affairs René Journiac. The coup would be one of several against Kérékou who survived numerous attempts to oust him, including two coup attempts in 1988.

References

Links

War is boring: In 1977, 80 Mercenaries Nearly Took Over Benin
{{DEFAULTSORT:1977 Benin coup d'état attempt Military coups in Benin Benin coup d'état attempt Coup attempt Benin coup d'état attempt Benin coup d'état attempt, 1977 Benin–France relations