SUMMARY
The territory of present-day Benin, formerly known as Dahomey, was a French colony until 1960 when it achieved its independence. For several decades thereafter, Benin experienced relative stability and no recorded organized armed violence. However, in the early 2020s, the security threat posed by jihadist groups in neighboring countries started to spill over into Benin’s northern regions.
Since 1989, Benin has experienced the intrastate and one-sided categories of organized violence, as defined by UCDP.
2025
In 2025, organized violence increased notably compared to previous years, reaching its highest level in UCDP data. The state-based category of organized violence was the primary driver of this escalation. The conflict over governmental power between the Government of Benin and the al-Qaeda affiliated group Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) remained the largest one, as JNIM continued to pose a threat to border security in the northern Alibori and Atacora departments. At the same time, the group expanded its area of operations, carrying out attacks in the Borgou department near the Nigerian border. In April 2025, JNIM targeted two military posts in the W National Park, near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger, resulting in the deadliest attack in Benin since JNIM entered the country in 2019, with 54 soldiers killed. Meanwhile, small-scale clashes between security forces and JNIM fighters persisted, especially in the Alibori department.
The level of one-sided violence carried out by JNIM in Benin during 2025 remained similar to that observed in 2024, although it expanded southwards towards areas near the Nigerian border.
Escalation of violence: JNIM’s invasion of Benin
In 2021, the threat of jihadist violence emanating from the Sahel region began to spill over into Benin. A series of attacks in February 2021 by JNIM, a coalition of several jihadist groups that emerged in Mali in 2017, marked the group’s emergence as a security threat in Benin. However, it was first in 2022 that the conflict over government became active, as fighting between the Beninese government and JNIM reached the threshold of 25 battle-related deaths. The aim of the al-Qaida-affiliated JNIM is to expel foreign forces from the region and impose Islamic law. Benin’s neighboring countries Burkina Faso and Niger have been especially hard hit by the group’s violent advances. Since JNIM entered Benin territory, the level of violence in Benin witnessed a significant upsurge. JNIM initiated a diverse array of aggressive actions, involving the planting of explosive devices in the form of land mines, launching surprise attacks on military convoys, and targeting both civilians and military positions. The violence is concentrated in the northern Alibori and Atacora departments, especially in Benin’s Park W and Pendjari. In 2024, the Government of Benin’s conflict with JNIM reached all-time high levels with a total of 77 fatalities recorded in the dyad.
