Guinea-Bissau army officers say they have seized power

A group of military officers say they have seized power in coup-prone Guinea-Bissau on the eve of the expected results of a hotly contested presidential election being announced.

In a statement read on state television, military officials said they had dismissed President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, suspended the election process, closed the borders and imposed a curfew.

They said they had established the “Supreme Military Command for the Restoration of Order” and would be in charge of the West African country until further notice.

Military high command spokesman Dinis N’Tchama said the move was a response to “the discovery of an ongoing plan” aimed at destabilizing the country, adding that “domestic and foreign citizens” were trying to “manipulate the election results” to implement that plan.

Eyewitnesses said gunshots were heard near the election commission headquarters, the presidential palace and the interior ministry shortly before the announcement.

A Reuters reporter said the incident lasted about an hour.

There has been no statement regarding any casualties yet.

The electoral commission was expected on Thursday to announce the provisional results of Sunday’s election, which pits Embalo against his main rival, Fernando Dias.

Both sides declared victory in the first round of voting.

Embalo was aiming to become the first president in three decades to win a second consecutive term in Guinea-Bissau, a small coastal nation between Senegal and Guinea.

He could not immediately be reached.

Embalo spokesman Antonio Yaya Seidy told Reuters that unidentified gunmen attacked the election commission to prevent the announcement of voting results.

He said the men were linked to Dias without providing any evidence.

A spokesman for Dias did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Former prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, who lost to Embalo in the contested second round in 2019 and supported Dias in this election, said Dias had nothing to do with the incident.

Pereira, who said he was also at the same meeting, said Dias met with election observers and “some people burst into the room to announce that gunshots were heard in the center of the town.”

Pereira said Dias was safe and in the capital Bissau.

Guinea-Bissau was rocked by at least nine coups and coup attempts between 1974, when it gained independence from Portugal, and 2020, when Embalo took office.

Embalo said he survived three coup attempts during his time in office.

His critics accused him of manufacturing a crisis as an excuse for crackdowns.

with AP