Coup in Guinea-Bissau: Military arrests President Umaro Sissoco Embaló
Photo: Umaro Sissoco Embaló, President of Guinea-Bissau (Flickr by Paul Kagame)
There has been a military coup in Guinea-Bissau. President Umaro Sissoco Embaló has been arrested, BBC reports.
According to Umaro Sissoco Embaló himself, he was arrested around noon in his own office.
Local media also report that the chief of the General Staff of Guinea-Bissau’s armed forces, his deputy, and the minister of internal affairs were detained as well.
Later, a group of military officers — including the head of the presidential administration’s military department, Brigadier General Denis N'Canha — announced the creation of the High Military Command for the Restoration of Order. They called on residents to remain calm.
The military also warned that the country’s borders had been closed.
Eyewitnesses claim that around 1 p.m. local time, a shootout occurred near the presidential palace and the headquarters of the central election commission. The firing was started by people in camouflage uniforms.
The coup in Guinea-Bissau took place three days after presidential and parliamentary elections. Both Umaro Sissoco Embaló and his main rival, Fernando Dias, immediately declared victory. The Central Election Commission had planned to announce the official results tomorrow, November 27.
In 2022, there was already an attempt to stage a coup in Guinea-Bissau, but the plotters failed.
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa.
Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s visit to Ukraine
Back in October 2022, Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embaló visited Kyiv and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
As the head of the Ukrainian state noted, Umaro Sissoco Embaló became the first leader of an African country to visit Ukraine after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
