In Guinea-Bissau’s capital city of Bissau, streets were all but empty on Thursday following the announcement of a coup d’état by military personnel, which suspended the election process, arrested the president, and sealed the nation’s borders.
Only a few individuals strolled along the main entrance road, while soldiers were observed monitoring the area surrounding the presidential mansion. The same location had been the scene of heavy shooting the day before.
The metropolis was scoured by military patrols overnight, according to AFP correspondents.
The provisional election results from last Sunday’s presidential election, which were scheduled to be released on Thursday, were postponed on Wednesday when a group of military commanders declared they had taken “total control” of the nation.
Even when self-declared win claims started to circulate before the election commission released official certification, President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who is seen as a front-runner in the polls, is still at the center of the situation.
The chief of the presidential military office, General Denis N’Canha, announced to media early on Wednesday that a new command structure had taken over.
Additionally, he said that the discovery of a destabilization scheme involving “drug lords” was what set off the coup.
He asserted that “the introduction of weapons into the country to alter the constitutional order” was part of the scheme.
The military command declared that important national systems would be suspended.
The junta claimed to have closed the “land, air, and sea” borders, suspended “all media programming,” stopped “the entire electoral process,” and imposed a “mandatory curfew.”
Following reports that officials were imprisoned during the coup, the nation was also subject to limitations.
According to a military source who spoke with AFP, the head of the “High Command for the Restoration of Order” is anticipated to be revealed on Thursday.
Between Guinea and Senegal, Guinea-Bissau has had four successful coups since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974. Additionally, the nation has had multiple attempts to seize power.
Recent years have seen an increase in military incursions throughout the West African region, especially in Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali, where governments were previously overthrown.
