Paul Njie,BBC Africaand

Lucy Fleming

Soldiers in the West African nation of Benin have announced on national TV that they have ousted President Patrice Talon and seized power.

A message from the French embassy in Benin said gunfire had been reported near the residence of the president in the main city of Cotonou, which is the seat of government.

The soldiers also announced a suspension of the constitution, the closure of all land borders as well as the country’s airspace.

But officials close to the president say he is fine and that the small group of soldiers at the TV station did not have the backing of the regular army.

“The situation is under control. A large part of the army is still loyalist – and we are taking over the situation,” Foreign Minister Shegun Adjadi Bakari told Reuters news agency.

An unnamed person in the presidency told the AFP news agency: “This is a small group of people who only control the television. The city and the country are completely secure.”

The whereabouts of the president is unclear.

Helicopters have been seen flying over Cotonou and roads are blocked with a heavy military presence on several streets in the city.

Benin, a former French colony, has been regarded as one of Africa’s more stable democracies.

It is one of the continent’s largest cotton producers, but ranks among the world’s poorest countries.

The French and Russian embassies have urged their citizens to stay indoors for their safety.

The US embassy said it was monitoring the situation and its advice was to stay away from Cotonou, especially the area around the presidential compound.

According to the statement read out by the soldiers, Lieutenant-Colonel Tigri Pascal will be leading a military transition council.

They justified their actions by criticising President Talon’s management of the country.

“The army solemnly commits to give the Beninese people the hope of a truly new era, where fraternity, justice and work prevail,” said a statement read by one of the soldiers.

Talon, who is 67 and regarded as a close ally of the West, is due to step down next year after completing his second term in office, with elections scheduled for April.

A businessman known as the “king of cotton”, he first came to power in an election in 2016. He promised not to seek a third term and has endorsed Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni as his successor.

Talon has been praised by supporters for overseeing economic development, but his government has also come in for criticism for suppressing dissenting voices.

In October the electoral commission barred the main opposition candidate from standing on the grounds that he did not have enough sponsors.

Last month, several constitutional amendments were passed by MPs, including the creation of a second parliamentary chamber, the Senate.

Terms of office for elected officials were extended from five to seven years, but the presidential two-term limit remained in place.

This apparent coup in Benin comes just over a week after Umaro Sissoco Embaló was overthrown as president in nearby Guinea-Bissau.

In recent years, there have been several coups in West Africa, including in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger, heightening fears that the security of the region could worsen.

Russia has strengthened its ties with these Sahel countries over recent years – and Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have left the West African regional bloc Ecowas to form their own group, the Alliance of Sahel States.

According to BBC Monitoring, news of the apparent coup was hailed by several pro-Russian influencer accounts on social media.

Benin has seen a rise in jihadist activity in recent years, as groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda spread to the south.