The President of Guinea-Bissau on Saturday December 2 denounced an “attempted coup d’Etat” which will have “heavy consequences” after clashes between the Army and elements of the security forces left at least two people dead.
“I was in Dubai where I took part in COP 28. I couldn’t go back because of the coup attempt. I want to tell you that this act will have serious consequences”, declared President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on his return to Bissau.
Guinea-Bissau suffers from chronic political instability, and since its independence from Portugal in 1974 has seen a string of coups, the most recent in February 2022.
Since 2020, West Africa has also seen a proliferation of coups d’état, in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea, or attempted coups, as in Sierra Leone a week ago.
Clashes between elements of the National Guard, entrenched in a barracks in the south of the capital Bissau, and special forces of the Presidential Guard broke out on Thursday night, leaving at least two people dead and six wounded.
By mid-morning on Friday, calm had returned with the announcement of the capture or surrender of the National Guard commander, Colonel Victor Tchongo.
“There were clues, we’ll show them to you. This coup d’état was prepared before November 16 (date of the armed forces’ 50th anniversary celebrations)”, President Embalo, who has ruled the country since 2020, told the press in a lounge at Bissau airport.
He announced that a commission of inquiry would be set up on Monday, and thanked the armed forces for their loyalty.