Heavy gunfire shook parts of Bissau on Wednesday after Guinea-Bissau’s President, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, said he was taken into custody inside the presidential palace in what he described as a coup attempt.
According to The Africa Report, Embaló said he was “arrested around 1 p.m. inside my office,” adding that the operation unfolded “without the use of force.” He claimed the action was led by the Army Chief of Staff, deepening concerns of a wider split between the presidency and senior members of the military.
Reports from regional outlets said the armed forces Chief of Staff, General Biaguê Na Ntan, the deputy Chief of Staff, General Mamadou Touré and the interior minister, Botché Candé were also detained. Their arrests immediately raised fears of a full-scale confrontation within the country’s already fragile security structure.
Journalists covering the tense post-election atmosphere said the situation deteriorated rapidly around the National Electoral Commission headquarters. A reporter quoted by The Africa Report said his team hid inside the office of the commission’s communication officer while gunshots sounded nearby.
The recent tensions stem from Sunday’s presidential election, which has produced two parallel victory claims. Embaló insists he secured 65 per cent of the vote based on his own tally. His main challenger, Fernando Dias de Costa, also declared himself winner.
The competing claims came ahead of the provisional results expected to be released by the electoral commission on Thursday, November 27.
Guinea-Bissau has long battled political turbulence, marked by strained civil-military relations and recurring power struggles. Embaló, who dissolved parliament in 2022 after a series of disputes with lawmakers, went into the election as a strong favourite, partly because the leading opposition party, PAIGC, and its figurehead, Domingos Simões Pereira, were excluded from the race.
The latest crisis followed an earlier military announcement, reported by AFP, that several senior officers had been arrested over an alleged plot to destabilise the country. That statement came just a day before the official campaign period opened.
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