Dakar
Reuters
—
A gaggle of military officers mentioned they had seized power in coup-prone Guinea-Bissau on Wednesday, a day earlier than the deliberate announcement of outcomes from a hotly contested presidential election.
In a press release learn on state tv by spokesperson Diniz N’Tchama, the military officers mentioned they had deposed President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, suspended the electoral course of, shut borders and would implement a curfew.
Shortly after, Embalo advised France 24 TV: “I have been deposed.”
The military officers mentioned in their assertion that they had shaped “The High Military Command for the Restoration of Order” and could be in cost of the West African nation till additional discover.
The officers didn’t specify if they had taken Embalo into custody, and his whereabouts was unknown.
It was the newest outbreak of unrest in Guinea-Bissau, a small coastal nation located between Senegal and Guinea that could be a infamous hub for cocaine sure for Europe.
It was not instantly clear whether or not the military had the assist of all of Guinea-Bissau’s fractious armed forces or whether or not they had been in management of the entire nation of round two million individuals.
The military assertion mentioned the officers’ choice to take power got here in response to a destabilization plan concocted by “certain national politicians” and “well-known national and foreign drug barons,” in addition to an try to govern the election outcomes.
Shortly earlier than the officers’ announcement, gunfire rang out close to the electoral fee headquarters, presidential palace and inside ministry, witnesses mentioned. It lasted for about an hour however appeared to have stopped by 2 p.m. GMT (9 a.m. ET), a Reuters journalist mentioned.
“People are running everywhere,” mentioned a driver in Bissau who requested to not be named, describing scenes of panic.
There was no phrase but of any casualties.
The electoral fee had been due on Thursday to announce provisional outcomes from Sunday’s election in which Embalo confronted off towards prime challenger Fernando Dias.
Both sides had claimed victory in the primary spherical of voting.
Embalo was looking for to turn out to be the primary president in three many years to win a second consecutive time period in Guinea-Bissau.
A spokesperson for Embalo, Antonio Yaya Seidy, advised Reuters that unidentified gunmen attacked the election fee to stop an announcement of the vote outcomes.
He mentioned the boys had been affiliated with Dias, with out offering proof. A spokesperson for Dias didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, who misplaced to Embalo in a contested runoff in 2019 and has backed Dias in this election, mentioned Dias had nothing to do with the incident.
Dias was assembly election observers when “some people erupted in the room to announce that there were gunshots in the center of the town,” mentioned Pereira, who mentioned he was in the identical assembly.
Dias was secure and in Bissau, Pereira mentioned.
Guinea-Bissau had been shaken by a minimum of 9 coups and tried coups between 1974, when it gained independence from Portugal, and 2020, when Embalo took workplace.
Embalo has mentioned he has survived three coup makes an attempt throughout his time in workplace. His critics have accused him of producing crises as an excuse for crackdowns.
Gunfire rang out for hours in the capital in December 2023 in what Embalo’s authorities mentioned was an tried putsch. Embalo dissolved parliament in response, and the nation has been and not using a functioning legislature ever since.
The most up-to-date reported coup try got here in late October, when authorities introduced {that a} group of senior officers had been arrested on suspicion of attempting to topple the federal government.
The lead-up to Sunday’s vote was fraught, with the opposition arguing that Embalo has already overstayed his time period.
Under Embalo, the cocaine commerce seemed to be booming, with an August report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime describing it as doubtlessly extra worthwhile than ever earlier than.
In September final 12 months, the judicial police introduced they had seized 2.63 tons of cocaine from a airplane that landed in Bissau from Venezuela.