At a time when warfare is no longer confined to the battlefield but extends into the realm of information, the Beninese armed forces are facing a dual challenge: ensuring national security while mastering their narrative. It\u2019s a slow but inevitable shift, shaped by new forms of conflict where firearms coexist with narrative weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Long perceived as a closed and silent institution, the Beninese military is undergoing a strategic shift. \u201cWe are no longer the silent giant, but we won\u2019t become a loud parrot either,\u201d says Lieutenant Colonel Ebenzer Honfoga, spokesperson for the General Staff of the Beninese Armed Forces. This transition aims to strike a balance between the duty of discretion and the growing need to inform a connected and increasingly reactive population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The evolution is even more pressing as the country now faces regular attacks from armed terrorist groups. The emotional impact of these assaults \u2014 including the one on April 11, 2025 \u2014 often spills over onto social media, which becomes saturated with misinformation. In such critical moments, the military\u2019s prolonged silence creates a vacuum quickly filled by disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a dilemma acknowledged by Colonel Honfoga, who underlines the challenge of safeguarding ongoing operations while also meeting the public\u2019s legitimate expectation for timely updates. \u201cSpeed is not our priority \u2014 operational success comes first,\u201d he insists. As a result, the army refrains from releasing partial reports until search operations are completed, prioritizing accuracy and objectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, this cautious stance clashes with the demands of a public hungry for transparency and an enemy adept at navigating the rules of information warfare. As R\u00e9gis Houp, an expert in strategic communication and geopolitics, explains: \u201cAn army that doesn\u2019t control its own narrative lets others do it in its place.\u201d In today\u2019s context, that narrative void is often filled by terrorist propaganda, which aims to undermine national morale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The task ahead is clear: to build a uniquely Beninese narrative, one rooted in the country\u2019s socio-cultural and strategic realities while drawing on effective practices seen elsewhere. Unlike Sahelian armies, whose communication is often shaped by political or militaristic agendas, Benin\u2019s doctrine favors caution, adaptability, and a gradual buildup of communication capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Beninese military authorities, this approach is already taking shape. A dedicated module on military communication has been introduced at the National Defense Academy, and efforts are underway to strengthen cooperation with national media, who are now more involved in crisis management. Yet for R\u00e9gis Houp, one key step remains: \u201cWe need to go further \u2014 use social media, community radio, and speak in our national languages. That\u2019s how the army will earn the trust of the population.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At a time when warfare is no longer confined to the battlefield but extends into the realm of information, the Beninese armed forces are facing a dual challenge: ensuring national security while mastering their narrative. It\u2019s a slow but inevitable shift, shaped by new forms of conflict where firearms coexist with narrative weapons. Long perceived […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":527624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_trash_the_other_posts":false,"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"pays":[119],"personnalite":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-527623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-insight","8":"pays-benin"},"acf":{"type_de_publication":"Analyse","nom_de_linstitution":"Ousmane Bar\u00e9","description_de_linstitution":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527623"},{"taxonomy":"pays","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pays?post=527623"},{"taxonomy":"personnalite","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/personnalite?post=527623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}