Coup in Guinea-Bissau and the army seizes power

Guinea-Bissau has witnessed a military coup, as the military announced it had overthrown President Amaro Sissoko Embalo and taken control of the state.

The country’s presidential guard commander, General Denis N’Canha, declared in a televised statement that the armed forces had intervened to ensure national security and restore order following what he described as credible intelligence indicating a plot to destabilize the nation with the involvement of local drug traffickers.

According to the general, weapons had been smuggled into the country with the aim of altering the constitutional order.

General N’Canha announced the creation of a “High Command for the Restoration of Order,” comprising all branches of the military, which would run the country until further notice.

He ordered the immediate suspension of the electoral process, imposed a mandatory nationwide curfew, and sealed all land, air, and sea borders. Citizens were urged to remain calm as the military moved to consolidate control.

Military sources said that President Embalo had been detained at the headquarters of the General Staff and was being treated well.

Hours before the military publicly confirmed its takeover, Embalo had been arrested inside his office at the presidential palace.

His interior minister and several senior military officers, including the chief of the general staff and his deputy, were also detained.

Media outlets later reported the arrests of prominent political figures Fernando Dias de Costa and Domingos Simões Pereira.

The coup unfolded as Guinea-Bissau awaited the official results of Sunday’s presidential and legislative elections.

Both the Embalo and Dias de Costa campaigns had prematurely claimed victory, heightening tensions in a country long accustomed to political instability.

This marks the fifth successful coup since independence from Portugal in 1974.

Nearly 40% of the population lives below the poverty line, and the country has experienced repeated episodes of military intervention and attempted power grabs.

Former Prime Minister Aristides Gómez, speaking to Radio France Internationale from abroad, described the coup as “a staged operation” designed to prevent the release of the election results.

Gómez claimed that the soldiers who arrested Embalo were loyal to him and suggested that the president’s detention was meant to lend credibility to what he called a fabricated coup.

He warned that Embalo might later be released under the pretext that he had legitimately won the election, describing the situation as an orchestrated effort to “liquidate the electoral process”.

The Popular Front, a civil society organization aligned with the opposition, echoed these concerns, calling the events a “sham coup” aimed at manipulating public perception.

Portugal, the former colonial power, also called for calm and the immediate resumption of the electoral process, however, and despite the uncertainty, the military moved quickly to restructure leadership.

On Thursday, the commander of the ground forces, General Horta Nta Na Man, was sworn in as interim president for a one-year transitional period and assumed command of the country’s highest military authority.

He immediately reopened national borders, lifted the curfew, and allowed the population to move freely.

Media outlets, however, remained largely suspended, with only national television and radio continuing to broadcast information from the ruling military council, according to correspondents in Bissau.

Ousted President Omar Sissako Mbalo accused the commander of the ground forces of being responsible for the coup in comments to French media, deepening the internal rift within the military establishment.

Regional reactions continued to mount, with ECOWAS condemning the coup as a “serious violation of constitutional order” and a direct threat to stability in West Africa.

The African Union demanded the immediate and unconditional release of President Embalo and other detainees, calling on all parties to avoid any escalation.

As Guinea-Bissau confronts yet another turbulent chapter in its modern history, the country remains caught between contested elections, competing narratives of legitimacy, and a military apparatus once again at the center of power.

The coming days are expected to shape not only its immediate political trajectory but also the broader regional response to a nation long struggling to find stable democratic footing.