Military officers in Guinea-Bissau announced on Wednesday that they had taken “total control” of the country after reports of gunfire in the capital, Bissau.
In a statement on state TV, the military spokesperson, Diniz N’Tchama, declared that President Umaro Sissoco Embalo was deposed and all state institutions suspended until further notice.
He also announced the suspension of the election process, closing the country’s borders and imposing a curfew, reported Reuters.
The military takeover took place as the West African country was awaiting the results of presidential and legislative elections, due on Thursday, in which Embalo competed with top challenger Fernando Dias. Both candidates have claimed victory.
The military’s statement attributed the officers’ decision to seize power to a destabilization plan engineered by “certain national politicians” and “well-known national and foreign drug barons”, as well as an attempt to manipulate the election results.
The officers announced the creation of “The High Military Command for the Restoration of Order” which would rule the country until further notice.
Embalo, for his part, confirmed the takeover. “I have been deposed,” he told France 24 in a phone call, adding that he was “currently at the general staff headquarters.”
Embalo had been arrested “with the chief of staff and the minister of the interior,” a senior official told AFP. Military officers also arrested opposition figures Fernando Dias and Domingos Simões Pereira, according to RFI.
Guinea-Bissau has a long history of military coups, with at least nine coups and attempted coups between 1974 and 2020. Moreover, Embalo said he has survived three coup attempts during his time in office. However, critics have questioned his claims.
The UN labeled Guinea-Bissau a “narco-state” in 2008 owing to its role in the global cocaine trade, serving as a key transit point in trafficking cocaine from Latin America to Europe.
