Guinea-Bissau was thrown into fresh political turmoil on Wednesday after President Umaro Sissoco Embaló said he was arrested inside the presidential palace in what he described as a coup attempt led by senior military officials, according to Africa Report.
Africa Report quoted its sister publication, Jeune Afrique, saying, Embalo has been arrested “this Wednesday, 26 November, at around 1pm while he was in his office at the presidential palace.”
The president, who insists he won Sunday’s election with 65% of the vote “by his own count,” said no force was used against him during the operation, which he directly labelled a “coup d’état.”
Also taken into custody, according to Embaló, were the country’s most senior security chiefs: armed forces chief of staff General Biaguê Na Ntan, deputy chief of staff General Mamadou Touré, and Interior Minister Botché Candé.
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Journalists covering the tense post-election period reported a fast-escalating security breakdown in the capital.
The eruption of violence follows conflicting claims of victory by both the incumbent Embaló and opposition contender Fernando Dias de Costa, even though official provisional results are not expected until Thursday, 27 November.
Embaló, who entered the contest as the favourite, has had a turbulent term characterised by repeated clashes with parliament, which he dissolved in 2022. His prospects were further strengthened when the historic opposition party, the PAIGC, and its leader Domingos Simões Pereira, were barred from contesting the election.
But the unexpectedly strong showing of Dias de Costa has unsettled assumptions about the race and triggered an immediate scramble by both camps to declare early victory before the electoral commission’s official announcement.
