JNIM jihadists step up incursions into northern Benin

Al Qaeda affiliate JNIM has been intensifying its activities in Benin since 2022. The country serves as a transit corridor between the areas of operation of the group, which is well established in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Two nature reserves have become logistical hubs for the jihadist fighters. Benin's army is striving to hold the line. Four Beninese soldiers died in an attack conducted by the al Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) on May 25, 2026, in the wake of the inauguration of the country’s new president, Romuald Wadagni. The attack took place in the Kourou Koualou area, at the border with Burkina Faso, more than 700 kilometres north of the economic capital, Cotonou. RFI reported that several hundred armed men on motorcycles started attacking two army bases in the area. Our team spoke to Franklin Nossiter, an analyst at International Crisis Group, who said JNIM has been intensifying its activity in Benin since 2022. “Northern Benin is adjacent to key fronts for JNIM in eastern Burkina Faso, western Niger and the emergent kind of front in Nigeria. And so Benin, northern Benin, allows them to transit, you know, more easily from eastern Burkina to Nigeria and Niger. Northern Benin is an important area for trafficking [...] and JNIM has used northern Benin as a way to get into other trafficking networks and get supplies.”