Military officers in Guinea-Bissau announced Wednesday Nov. 26, they were taking “total control” of the country while suspending its electoral process and closing its borders.
The take-over announcement was made three days after the West African nation’s legislative and presidential elections.
Earlier in the day gunfire was heard near the country’s presidential palace as men in military uniform took over the main road leading to the building.
Military personnel made the announcement by reading a statement at army headquarters in the capital, Bissau, AFP journalists observed on the scene.
Meanwhile, Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embaló told local publication Jeune Afrique that he was arrested today, November 26, at around 1pm while he was in his office at the presidential palace.
The presidential election took place last Sunday, and the outgoing president said he had won with 65% of the vote, by his own count.
Also arrested were the armed forces’ chief of staff, General Biaguê Na Ntan; the deputy chief of staff, General Mamadou Touré; and the interior minister, Botché Candé.
According to the outgoing president, no force was used against him during what he calls a “coup d’état”, which he says was led by the army chief of staff.
Journalists covering the election described a rapidly deteriorating security situation in the capital.
“Gunfire at the National Electoral Commission (CNE) headquarters and areas around,” says one reporter whose team had been monitoring the vote count.
“We are hidden in the office of the CNE communication officer.”
The coup leaders have issued a communique, claiming the "High Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order" was reacting to a destabilisation plot "put in place by certain national politicians with the participation of [a]well-known drug baron."
The camp of incumbent President Embaló and opposition candidate Fernando Dias de Costa have each claimed first-round victory in Guinea-Bissau’s 23 November presidential election, even though the official provisional results are not expected until Thursday, Nov. 27.
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