GUINEA-BISSAU MILITARY SEIZES POWER, SUSPENDS ELECTIONS AFTER HEAVY GUNFIRE

Read Time:2 Minute, 3 Second

By Aishat Momoh. O.

Military officers in Guinea-Bissau on Wednesday announced that they had assumed “total control” of the coup-prone West African nation, closing its borders and suspending the ongoing electoral process just three days after general elections.

The declaration followed intense gunfire near the presidential palace earlier in the day, with soldiers in uniform reportedly seizing the main access road to the complex.

In a televised address, General Denis N’Canha, head of the presidential military office, said a command structure “composed of all branches of the armed forces” had taken charge of the country “until further notice.” The press briefing was delivered while he was seated at a table surrounded by heavily armed troops.

A senior military officer, speaking anonymously to AFP, said President Umaro Sissoco Embalo who had been widely expected to win Sunday’s election was inside a building behind military headquarters “with the chief of staff and the minister of the interior.” It has not been confirmed whether he is under arrest.

Both Embalo and his main challenger, Fernando Dias, had already claimed victory ahead of the release of provisional results, expected on Thursday.

General N’Canha claimed the military had uncovered a plan to destabilise the country “involving national drug lords” and “the introduction of weapons into the country to alter the constitutional order.” He said:

The electoral process has been halted, all media programming suspended, a mandatory curfew imposed

Guinea-Bissau’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) was also reportedly attacked by unidentified armed men on Wednesday, according to its communications official, Abdourahmane Djalo.

Guinea-Bissau has experienced **four coups since independence** in 1974, alongside numerous attempted coups. The country is among the poorest in the world and is known as a key transit point for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe.

More than 6,780 local and ECOWAS security personnel were deployed to secure last Sunday’s polls.

The 2025 general election was marked by the exclusion of the main opposition party, PAIGC, and its candidate Domingos Simoes Pereira, after the Supreme Court ruled their submission deadlines had not been met. PAIGC led the fight for independence from Portugal.

Embalo dissolved the legislature in 2023 then dominated by the opposition and has ruled by decree since. The opposition maintains that his mandate expired on February 27, exactly five years after his inauguration.

Wednesday’s military takeover is expected to trigger regional and international concerns, with fresh calls likely for diplomatic intervention.