Benin said Sunday that authorities have thwarted an attempt to oust President Thomas Boni Yayi and install a military regime in the west African nation. In a statement read to journalists, state prosecutor Justin Gbenameto said a colonel and businessman were arrested for plotting "to block the head of state from returning to Cotonou after his trip and to institute a military regime." Yayi, who recently completed a one-year term as chairman of the African Union, had travelled to Equatorial Guinea last month for a summit with South American leaders.