Belgium announces its intention to deploy specialized military training units in Benin
Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken announced his country’s intention to deploy specialized military training units throughout the year to train special units of the Beninese National Guard.
During a visit to Benin, Franken explained that the aim of this decision is to strengthen the operational capabilities of the Beninese army in an environment characterized by increasing asymmetric threats.
The Belgian Defense Minister stressed the special importance of Benin for Belgium, saying that its a relatively stable country, with a very important strategic location for Belgium, noting that his country is the only country that has its own logistics center at Cotonou airport, as well as another hub in the port.
“From here we can operate our A400M aircraft across Africa, and we can use this infrastructure to evacuate our citizens in the event of a crisis anywhere on the continent,” he said.
The Belgian minister on Monday visited his country’s soldiers deployed in Cotonou to train Beninese military forces, amid tensions in the security situation in the north of the country, due to attacks by armed groups.
In recent years, Benin has been plagued by increasing attacks by armed groups, which have expanded their activity in the region towards the Gulf of Guinea states.
The Beninese armed forces announced in January that they had killed at least 45 militants during military operations between October and December 2025.
Prior to that, JNUM had killed 54 Beninese soldiers in an attack in April of the same year.
