A group of military officers say they have seized control of Guinea-Bissau amid reports that the President, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, has been arrested. The officers appeared on state TV, saying they had suspended the electoral process, as the West African nation awaited the outcome of Sunday’s Presidential election. They said they were acting to thwart a plot by unnamed politicians who had the support of a well-known drug baron to destabilise the country, and announced the closure of its borders and imposed a night-time curfew.
Sandwiched between Senegal and Guinea, the coup-prone country is known as a notorious drug-trafficking hub where the military has been influential since independence from Portugal in 1974. The former Portuguese colony has witnessed at least nine coups or attempted coups over the last five decades.
The election results were expected yesterday- both Embaló and his closest rival, Fernando Dias, had claimed victory. Dias was supported by former Prime Minister Domingos Pereira, who had been disqualified from running. Government sources have said Pereira and Interior Minister Botché Candé have also been detained. The putschists have taken army chief Gen Biague Na Ntan and his deputy, Gen Mamadou Touré, into custody too, the sources say.
