dakar
Reuters
—
A group of military officers announced they had seized power in Guinea-Bissau, where a coup is underway, on Wednesday, a day before the results of a hotly contested presidential election were scheduled to be announced.
In a statement read out on state television by spokesman Dinis Ntxama, military officers said they would sack President Umaro Sissoko Embalo, suspend election procedures, close borders and enforce a curfew.
“I have been sacked,” Embalo told France 24 television shortly after.
Army officers said in a statement that they have formed a “Supreme Military Command for the Restoration of Order” and will take charge of the West African nation until further notice.
Officers did not say whether they took Mr. Embalo into custody, and his whereabouts are unknown.
It was the latest outbreak of violence in Guinea-Bissau, a small coastal country located between Senegal and Guinea and a notorious hub for cocaine destined for Europe.
It was not immediately clear whether the military had the support of all of Guinea-Bissau’s troubled armed forces, or whether they were in control of the entire country of about 2 million people.
A military statement said the officers’ decision to seize power was in response to a destabilization plan concocted by “certain national politicians” and “prominent domestic and foreign drug lords” and attempts to manipulate election results.
Witnesses said gunshots rang out near the election commission headquarters, the presidential palace and the Ministry of Interior just before the police made their announcement. A Reuters reporter said the explosion lasted about an hour but appeared to have stopped by 2pm GMT (9am ET).
“People are running everywhere,” a driver in Bissau said on condition of anonymity, describing the panic.
There is no information yet on any casualties.
The electoral commission was scheduled to announce on Thursday the preliminary results of Sunday’s election, which pitted Embalo against front-runner Fernando Diaz.
Both sides declared victory in the first round.
Embalo was aiming to win Guinea-Bissau’s first consecutive term in office in 30 years.
António Yaya Seidi, a spokesman for Embalo, told Reuters that unidentified gunmen attacked the election commission to prevent the announcement of the results.
He said the men were related to Diaz, although he offered no evidence. A spokesperson for Diaz did not respond to a request for comment.
Former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, who lost to Mr. Embaro in the 2019 run-off and supported Mr. Díaz in this election, said Mr. Díaz had nothing to do with the incident.
Pereira, who was also present at the meeting, said Diaz was meeting with election observers when “some people started making noise in the room, saying there were gunshots in the center of town.”
Diaz was safe and in Bissau, Pereira said.
Guinea-Bissau had been rocked by at least nine coups and attempted coups between 1974, when it gained independence from Portugal, and 2020, when Embalo became president.
Embalo said he survived three coup attempts during his time in office. His critics accuse him of creating a crisis as a pretext for repression.
In December 2023, gunshots rang out in the capital for several hours, and the Embalo government said it was an attempted rebellion. In response, Embalo dissolved parliament, and the country has not had a functioning parliament ever since.
The most recent reported coup attempt occurred in late October, when authorities said a group of leaders had been arrested on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.
The process leading up to Sunday’s vote was fraught with difficulties, with opposition parties claiming Embalo’s term had already expired.
The cocaine trade appears to be booming under Embalo, with an August report from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime saying it could become more profitable than ever before.
Last September, judicial police announced that they had seized 2.63 tons of cocaine from a plane that landed in Bissau from Venezuela.
