Troops in Guinea-Bissau have announced they are taking “complete control” of the West African country, three days after elections in which the two main presidential contenders claimed victory.
In a statement read at army headquarters in the capital Bissau and broadcast on state TV, military officials said they were suspending Guinea-Bissau’s electoral process and closing its borders. He said he had formed a “High Military Command for the Restoration of Order”, which would rule the country until further notice.
Earlier on Wednesday, gunfire was heard near the Election Commission headquarters, Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Interior Ministry, although it was not clear who was responsible.
The military takeover is the latest in a series of coups and coup attempts in Guinea-Bissau since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974. According to the World Bank, the average annual income in the country of 2.2 million people in 2024 was just $963 (£728).
The United Nations labeled Guinea-Bissau a “narco state” in 2008 due to its role as a hub of the global cocaine trade. Located between Senegal and Guinea, its coastline includes several river deltas and the 88 islands of the Bizagos Archipelago, which experts say provide natural, isolated drop-off points used by Colombian drug cartels.
Outgoing President Umaro Sissoko Embalo was vying to become the first president to win a second term in power in three decades. Both he and his main rival Fernando Dias have claimed victory in the first round of elections held on Sunday.
Earlier on Wednesday, a spokesman for Embalo claimed that the shots were being fired by gunmen linked to Dias. An ally of Dias accused Embalho of attempting a coup so he could declare a state of emergency and retain power. Nor did he provide any evidence for his claims.
The Election Commission was due to announce provisional results of the presidential and parliamentary elections on Thursday.
According to Reuters, there have been at least nine coups in Guinea-Bissau between independence and Embalo taking office in 2020. Embalo claimed that he survived three coup attempts during his first term in office, the most recent in October.
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However, critics claimed that Embalo had fabricated the putsch attempts, using them as a pretext to suppress the opposition. In December 2023, gunfire was heard for hours in Bissau, which Emballo described as a coup attempt. He dissolved the parliament and Guinea-Bissau has not had a properly functioning legislature since.
Agence France Presse and Reuters contributed to this report
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