Oct. 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Benin authorities have released a French journalist detained on Sunday after allegedly entering an area in the north of the country closed by the Army due to the increase in attacks by jihadist groups in the area.
According to information collected by the news portal 24 heures au Benin, the journalist Emilien David, correspondent for TV5 Monde and ‘Ouest-France’, has been released after appearing before the Tribunal for the Repression of Economic Infractions and Terrorism (CRIET).
The journalist was arrested in the town of Matéri, located in the department of Atacora, without the authorities having ruled on the motives. However, local media have indicated that he entered a “military zone” to cover up the insecurity situation.
In recent months there have been several attacks in northern Benin, including an attack in February in a national park near the border with Burkina Faso and Niger that left nine people dead, including a French citizen, as authorities confirmed.
A report published in June 2021 stated that the north of Benin presents several of the conditions that have allowed jihadist groups to extend their inexorable advance in the Sahel countries, with their sights set on advancing towards the Gulf of Guinea.