Army officers in Guinea-Bissau said on Wednesday that they had seized power, announcing on state television that President Umaro Sissoco Embalo had been deposed a day before provisional results from a tightly contested presidential election were expected.
Reading a statement on state TV, spokesperson Diniz N’Tchama said the officers had suspended the electoral process, shut the country’s borders and imposed a curfew. President Embalo later told France 24: “I have been deposed.”
The officers said they had formed “The High Military Command for the Restoration of Order,” which would run the West African nation until further notice. They did not clarify whether Embalo had been detained, and his whereabouts remained unknown.
The takeover added to a long history of upheaval in Guinea-Bissau, a small coastal state between Senegal and Guinea that has frequently grappled with political instability and drug trafficking networks. It was unclear whether the officers had the backing of the broader armed forces or full control across the country of roughly two million people.
In their statement, the officers said they acted in response to what they described as a destabilisation plot involving “certain national politicians” and “well-known national and foreign drug barons,” and cited alleged attempts to manipulate the election results.
Gunfire was heard shortly before the announcement near the electoral commission headquarters, the presidential palace and the interior ministry, witnesses said. The shooting lasted around an hour before stopping, according to a Reuters journalist in Bissau. “People are running everywhere,” a driver said, describing scenes of panic. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The electoral commission had been scheduled to release provisional results on Thursday from Sunday’s vote, in which Embalo faced challenger Fernando Dias. Both camps claimed victory after the first round, and Embalo was aiming to become the first leader in three decades to secure a second consecutive term.
Antonio Yaya Seidy, a spokesperson for Embalo, said unidentified gunmen attacked the election commission to prevent results from being announced. He alleged the attackers were linked to Dias, without providing evidence. A spokesperson for Dias did not immediately comment.
Former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, who supported Dias in the election and lost to Embalo in a disputed 2019 runoff, said Dias had no connection to the incident. He said the candidate was meeting election observers when “some people erupted in the room to announce that there were gunshots in the center of the town.” Pereira said Dias was safe and in Bissau.
Guinea-Bissau has experienced repeated political turmoil, with at least nine coups or attempted coups since independence from Portugal in 1974. Embalo has claimed to have survived three coup attempts during his presidency. His critics, meanwhile, have accused him of engineering crises to justify clampdowns on opponents.
Gunfire echoed through the capital for hours in December 2023 in what Embalo’s government described as an attempted putsch. He dissolved parliament shortly after, leaving the country without a functioning legislature. In late October, authorities said they had arrested senior officers suspected of plotting another coup attempt.
Tensions ahead of Sunday’s election had been high, with opposition groups arguing that Embalo had overstayed his mandate. Under his tenure, drug trafficking appeared to surge, with an August report from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime describing the cocaine trade as potentially more profitable than ever. Last September, judicial police reported seizing 2.63 tonnes of cocaine from a plane that arrived in Bissau from Venezuela.
(With Inputs from Reuters)
