Military officials in Guinea-Bissau announced on Wednesday that they were taking “total control” of the country, suspending the electoral process and closing the borders, three days after the West African nation's legislative and presidential elections.
Military personnel made the announcement by reading a statement at army headquarters in the capital, Bissau, as observed by AFP journalists at the scene.
Hours earlier,heavy gunfire echoed through the center of the capital, as soldiers took control of the main access routes to the presidential palace, amid reports of the alleged arrest of outgoing President Umaro Sissoco Embaló, in a country marked by a long history of coups and political instability.
Presidential guards and an elite gendarmerie unit controlled the deserted area near the palace as calm returned and the shooting temporarily ceased, AFP journalists observed at the scene. Hundreds of people fled on foot and in vehicles seeking shelter when the first shots were heard.
According to witnesses contacted by EFE in Bissau, residents in the area fled in terror to outlying neighborhoods, seeking refuge from a group of armed men. The origin of the gunfire is currently unknown.
A source from the Ministry of the Interior and Public Order, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the local newspaper *O Democrata* that armed men stormed the headquarters of the National Electoral Commission and also attempted to attack the presidential palace. The French pan-African weekly *Jeune Afrique* reported that Embaló himself confirmed to them that he was arrested around noon in his office.
According to the weekly magazine, the outgoing president stated that no acts of violence were committed against him during this “coup d'état” orchestrated, according to him, by the Chief of Staff of the Army. However, Embaló's whereabouts were not immediately known at noon on Wednesday.
All streets leading to the presidential palace have been blocked, including areas near the Portuguese Embassy, O Democrata reported. Heavily armed and hooded soldiers are in the area to prevent political leaders who might seek refuge in the diplomatic mission from entering.
A passerby fleeing the chaotic scene told AFP that “we are used to this in Bissau.”
Double proclamation of victory
The acts of violence occurred after both Embaló and his main rival in the elections, independent candidate Fernando Dias da Costa, claimed victory in Sunday's elections, which had been peaceful until Wednesday.
“There will be no second round,” Oscar Barbosa, spokesman for the Embaló campaign, told AFP on Tuesday, adding that the president “will have a second term.”
Dias also declared victory, saying in a video posted on social media: “This election has been won, it has been won in the first round.”
The official provisional results were expected this Thursday in the tumultuous West African country, which has experienced four coups since its independence, as well as multiple coup attempts.
A country marked by instability
Guinea-Bissau is one of the most unstable countries in Africa.Since its independence from Portugal in 1974, it has suffered four successful coups in 1980, 1998/99, 2003, and 2012. The country is also among the poorest in the world and is a hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, a trade facilitated by its long history of political instability.
Sunday's elections were peaceful and, as confirmed on Tuesday by observers from several international missions, including that of the African Union, were"democratic, free, and participatory."
However, it was noted that the main opposition leader, former Prime Minister Domingos Simões Pereira, was absent, having been barred from running for alleged technical reasons. The Supreme Court removed Pereira and the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the main opposition party that secured Guinea-Bissau's independence from Portugal in 1974, from the final list of candidates and parties, claiming they had submitted their official applications too late.
His party, the historic PAIGC, backed Da Costa, who also had the support of a coalition made up of this party and the Inclusive Patriotic Alliance (API “Cabaz Grandi”), as well as most of the leaders of his original party, the Social Renewal Party.
The opposition argues that the exclusion of the PAIGC from the presidential and parliamentary elections amounts to"manipulation" and maintains that Embaló's mandate expired on February 27, five years after his investiture.
In 2023, Embaló dissolved the legislature, which was dominated by the opposition, and has since ruled by decree.
since both main candidates claimed victory.
More than 6,780 security personnel, including from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Stabilization Force, were deployed for the voting and post-election period.
