ALBAWABA- Guinea-Bissau’s military staged a rapid takeover on Wednesday, just three days after contentious presidential and legislative elections, detaining President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and key security officials while declaring “total control” of the country.
In a televised statement from army headquarters, senior officers, including Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Biaguê Na Ntan announced that the coup was carried out to “restore order” and prevent “electoral fraud and instability.”
Embaló, arrested at the presidential palace without resistance around 1 p.m., condemned the move in comments to Jeune Afrique, calling it an “illegal putsch” led by Na Ntan and his deputy, General Mamadou Touré. Interior Minister Botché Candé was also detained.
Sporadic gunfire near the palace and the National Electoral Commission forced journalists to shelter, and the military imposed a citywide curfew. No casualties were immediately reported.
The coup followed rising tensions over the November 23 vote, in which Embaló sought a second term against independent challenger Fernando Dias de Costa.
Both sides prematurely claimed victory, Embaló citing internal figures giving him 65%, despite provisional results not due until November 27. The president’s fraught relationship with the military, deepened by his dissolution of parliament in 2022 and his sidelining of the PAIGC opposition, fueled speculation of a coup after a reported foiled plot in late October.
The takeover marks yet another rupture in the cashew-dependent nation of 2.1 million, which has suffered four successful coups since independence from Portugal in 1974. ECOWAS condemned the “unconstitutional change of government” and called an emergency summit, while the African Union warned of sanctions.
