Arrested after a demonstration demanding the expulsion of French troops, Beninese activists reiterate their commitment to fighting French neocolonialism upon their release.
"French neocolonialism is the main cause of underdevelopment in Benin and much of West Africa," insists Parfait Gnanmi, who was released from prison last month along with Razack Salaou. Motorcycle taxi riders in their thirties, the duo are activists of the Council of Patriotic Youth (CoJeP), arrested after a demonstration on January 15 at the Bio Guéra square in Benin's northern city, Parakou, demanding the expulsion of French troops from the country.
It was among the first of the many demonstrations against French military presence in Benin, provoked by the terror attack on January 8 on one of the strongest of its army's installations by an Al-Qaeda affiliate, killing over 30 soldiers.
The Beninese left and pro-sovereignty activists allege a French collusion with the terror groups to perpetrate such attacks which provide a rationale for the deployment of its forces in West Africa.
"What is evident is that Benin is now at war--a war waged by French imperialism through proxy jihadist forces," maintains Damien Degbe, president of the CoJeP.
Read: The people of Benin intensify anti-French protests in the wake of a terror attack
In his address to the demonstration at the Bio Guéra square, Salaou read aloud CoJeP Parakou's Declaration: "Considering that since the installation of French military bases in our country, our defense and security forces have been prey to repeated terrorist attacks... we demand the immediate and unconditional departure of French troops from our country."
The declaration also called for cooperation with neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, which have made significant gains against terror groups after expelling French troops from their countries.
Hunting for this demonstration's organizers, the police stormed into the office of Parakou's motorcycle taxi riders union called the Zèm Sûr de Parakou Association (AZS-P) and arrested Salou, along with the union's president Gnanmi -- no summons issued; no warrants shown.
Threatened with torture
"They gave no reason, they simply said that the central commissioner wanted to see us. On the way, the Tibona district's commissioner asked who funded us for the demonstration on January 15," threatening "to torture us if we did not tell the truth. We challenged him to show us anyone who could claim they gave us a single franc for the demonstration,' Gnanmi recalled.
Denying "the right to make phone calls", he said the police held them in custody for the next five days, demanding, "Tell us which French military bases you know of."
They were brought to trial at the city's Court of First Instance on January 21. Accusing them of "unauthorized gathering" and spreading false information about French troops' presence in Benin, the Prosecutor of the Republic sought three years imprisonment.
However, the prosecutor did not claim in court that there were no French troops in the country -- only that it was an 'unverified' claim the activists could not prove. "This is just one of the many proofs of the presence of French troops in Benin," insists CoJeP President Damien Degbe.
Expelled from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger over the last few years, French troops, arriving in Benin in 2023, had initially set up a camp next to the Beninese military base in the Kandi region. After this provoked public outrage, they were dispersed to more discreet bases and across several 'advanced posts' along the borders with Niger and Burkina Faso, maintains the Communist Party of Benin (PCB), several of whose cadres are activists in the CoJeP.
Read: A new military strategy of French neo-colonialism in Africa: reorganizing under the cover retreat
This dispersed posture allows Benin's president, Patrice Talon, accused of being a French puppet by his critics, to claim that there are no French bases in the country. "While.. there are no autonomous French military camps," its military personnel, dispersed across Beninese bases, are training, equipping and directing the Beninese army's counter-terror operations, according to the PCB.
Explaining the planned reorganization of its deployment in Africa, French President Emmanuel Macron had said only two days before the terror attack: "We are opening a new security and defense partnership, where we will have strategic bases... [provide] more training, more equipment, more information, more contracts... [and] forge new relationships, as we have done in recent years with Benin."
Dismissing Macron's statements on the grounds that he is not a Beninese authority who could be cited in their defense against the accusation of spreading false information, the court had sent Gnanmi and Salaou to prison until the next hearing.
Appearing for their defense, lawyer Aboubacar Baparape sought a reopening of the proceedings, which happened on February 18, while the incarceration of the activists continued in the meantime.
They were jailed along with "150 to 200 other inmates including thieves, cyber criminals, debtors and other political prisoners" in an overcrowded building where they had to sleep crammed together "like sardines in a can", Gnanmi said.
In the meantime, the CoJeP, student organizations and trade unions held many more protests in different parts of the country.
Solidarity from across civil society
Calls for their release came from a cross-section of civil society, including the Trade Union Confederation of Benin Workers (CSTB), the Organization for the Defense of Human and People's Rights (ODHP), women's organizations, youth groups, etc. Mosques held prayers for their release.
On February 18, the courtroom was unable to accommodate the motorcycle taxi riders, local market vendors, neighborhood youth, peasants from surrounding villages and others who had come in a show of solidarity. The crowd poured out into the courtyard.
In the absence of evidence of his participation in the protest, the police had accused Gnanmi of filming the Tibona commissioner when he was arresting Salaou. But "the commissioner failed to provide proof of the videos supposedly filmed on the phone" which is now in police custody, said Baparape, who secured Gnanmi's acquittal.
Salaou, who was filmed addressing the rally, insisted on his right to demonstrate in support of the armed forces, against whose interests the French deployment has been allegedly operating. Baparape defended Salaou's right to express his opinion and argued against the charge of unauthorized assembly because, "Even if you ask for authorization to protest, you will not get it. Therefore, one must claim the right to speak and protest through unauthorized actions," he told Peoples Dispatch. Nevertheless, "the court sentenced him to 12 months in prison, with one month of actual imprisonment and 11 months suspended."
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"But my family has remained strong because they know our fight is noble"
Having been in prison since January 21, Salaou was also released on February 21, upon completion of his one-month sentence. Crowds of supporters cheered the court's order for their release.
"This trial should not have even taken place because it is arbitrary -- a denial of democracy. If the people cannot exercise the freedoms provided for in the constitution, then it is not a democratic country," Baparape maintains.
The imprisonment has further deteriorated the financial condition of the activists' families, who depended on their incomes from riding motorcycle taxis, which Gnanmi describes as "a profession with no future. It is full of risks such as road accidents, lung diseases due to fumes and police harassment" amid "multiple unjust taxes imposed on us by local authorities and very low incomes."
Nevertheless, he was able to sustain his family, until his earnings stopped due to imprisonment. "My children were expelled from school due to unpaid fees. It has been almost two months of unpaid rent, and all my savings are gone," Gnanmi said. "But my family has remained psychologically strong because they know it is a noble fight."
Recalling that "we had made the commitment in high school to fight for the final liberation of our country from France", he reiterates that they will honor their commitment.
Read also: Niger hosts historic conference on the fight against neocolonialism in the Sahel
