BISSAU (Reuters) – Security forces managed to stop an “attack on democracy” in Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday, President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said, adding that the first arrests were made after an attempted coup that left many deaths in the ranks of the security forces.
These comments, made in a video posted on the Presidency’s Facebook page, came after several hours of uncertainty following heavy gunfire heard near a government building in the capital Bissau, where an extraordinary Council of Ministers was chaired. by Umaro Sissoco Embalo.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWA) then condemned what it described as “an attempted coup” in the country, a week after the army seized power in another country in the region, Burkina Faso, last week.
Umaro Sissoco Embalo said in the video released by his services that assailants tried to enter the government building after the start of the meeting, but were repelled.
“It was not just an attempted putsch. It was an attempt to kill the president, the prime minister and the whole government,” he said, adding that the assault was “well planned and organized. “.
The Head of State indicated that this attack could be linked to drug trafficking, without saying more. The former Portuguese colony is considered by the United Nations as a major crossroads for the transport to Europe of cocane from Latin America.
Umaro Sissoco Embalo, supported by the army during a previous political crisis, has hinted that the army was not involved in the attack. “It was isolated,” he said, “related to people we fought against.”
In a press release published earlier, the Cdao said it was following “with great concern the evolution of the situation in Guinea-Bissau (…) where military fire is taking place around the government palace”, adding to hold the army responsible for the security of Umaro Sissoco Embalo and members of his government.
Political instability has grown over the decades in Guinea-Bissau, where nine coups or putsch attempts have been carried out since the country’s independence in 1974.
Umaro Sissoco Embalo held an extraordinary council of ministers in the morning to prepare for the next Cdao summit following the overthrow of the president of Burkina Faso by the army.
West Africa has experienced a series of putsches in recent months with the coups in Mali in August 2020 and May 2021, the one in Guinea last September and more recently the seizure of power by the weapon in Burkina Faso.
(Report Alberto Dabo Bissau, Edward McAllister, Hereward Holland and Bate Felix Dakar, David Lewis Nairobi, Edward McAllister Ouagadougou, written by Aaron Ross and Estelle Shirbon; French version Sophie Louet, Laetitia Volga and Jean Terzian)
by Alberto Dabo