India, Dec. 8 -- Benin, a country in West Africa, witnessed a major political turmoil on Sunday, December 7, when a soldiers' group appeared on state TV to announce the dissolution of the Patrice Talon-led government in an apparent coup. Talon, however, announced later that they had thwarted the coup attempt and vowed to punish them.

This was the latest in a string of military as well as attempted takeovers that rocked the West Africa region in the recent past. Last month, President Umaro Embalo was removed in a military coup in Guinea-Bissau after the election, where both he and his opposition candidate announced themselves as winners.

1. On Sunday morning, gunfire rang out across multiple neighbourhoods of Cotonou, a major commercial ...