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| - One person was killed and at least five were wounded by gunfire on Thursday, local officials and witnesses said, after troops in Benin cleared protesters in a flashpoint city days before President Patrice Talon seeks re-election. Protests have erupted in the West African country's opposition bastions ahead of Sunday's vote, which critics say is skewed in Talon's favour after the main opposition leaders were sidelined in a crackdown. A column of military vehicles arrived early Thursday to disperse demonstrators in the central city of Save, a focus of opposition protests two years ago, where makeshift barricades of trees and tyres blocked a major road. Troops initially fired tear gas, an AFP correspondent at the scene said, and then more detonations were heard as one soldier fired in the air from an armoured vehicle mounted with what appeared to be a heavy calibre weapon. The director of a local dispensary in Save said he had taken in one dead and six wounded by gunshots. "We admitted them at our clinic... One dead from a live round and six with bullet wounds," said Jose Godjo, head of the Boni clinic in Save. "All the wounded have been transferred to hospital in Save." The city's mayor, Denis Oba Chabi, confirmed one person died from gunshot wounds and three more were wounded. Waiting in a Save emergency ward, local resident Phillipe Samon said his brother had also been shot and wounded in the thigh though he was not a protester. Save was deserted on Thursday afternoon with the army positioned around the city. Sporadic gunfire was still being heard in the early afternoon, an AFP correspondent said. Benin government spokesman Alain Orounla told AFP security forces and public buildings in Save were assaulted by a horde of "drugged and armed youth" and dismissed any risk for the vote. "Our security forces came under fire, they had to repel their attackers," he said, without mentioning any casualties. "The election will take place on Sunday... the republic has control of the situation." The capital Porto-Novo and the economic hub Cotonou were calm on Thursday as well as Parakou in the north, where some protests had taken place in the morning. Benin, lying between Togo and Nigeria on the Gulf of Guinea, was once praised as a vibrant multi-party democracy in an often troubled region. But critics say the country spiralled into authoritarianism after Talon was first elected in 2016. The cotton tycoon faces two little-known rivals on Sunday -- most key opposition figures either live in exile or have been disqualified from running. Talon, 62, is campaigning on his economic record, which includes improvements to key infrastructure such as roads, water and energy supplies. "All is good, it's over, the KO is already in the pocket," Talon told supporters on Thursday in Seme-Podji in the southeast, referring to a first-round victory, in images released on social media. In the final days of campaigning, Cotonou was adorned with blue posters of Talon. But the usual fervour of presidential campaigns was missing. "Since the return of the multiparty system in 1990, this is the first time the country has held a presidential election like this: pluralist in appearance, but without choice in reality," said Expedit Ologou, a Beninese political scientist. "And where the re-election of the president seems only a formality." Following 17 years of military rule along Marxist-Leninist lines, the former French colony opened up into a multi-party democracy in 1990. Talon, say critics, has used a special economic crimes and terrorism court and electoral reforms as tools to disqualify the opposition. Still fresh in many memories is a political crisis that followed disputed parliamentary elections in April 2019. Tensions erupted into mass opposition protests that were broken up when security forces opened fire with live rounds. Parties allied to Talon won all the seats after opposition groups were effectively banned. An amendment to the electoral law in 2019 also required presidential candidates to be sponsored by at least 16 deputies or mayors. That meant election officials disqualified many opposition figures from running in Sunday's vote as they lacked the required documents. Only two opposition candidates were approved: former minister Alassane Soumanou and Corentin Kohoue, a dissident candidate from the opposition Democrats party. Tensions have been on the rise in the weeks before the vote. A leading opposition member was arrested accused of trying to destabilise the election. This week, a judge from the special economic crimes and terrorism court fled the country claiming to have been pressured by the government to seek charges against opponents. The government dismisses such accusations as "political manipulation" and has claimed that exiled figures were trying to have the election annulled. cma/pma/gd
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