Military forces in Guinea-Bissau declared “total control” of the coup-prone West African country on Wednesday, barring its borders and stopping the electoral process three days after the general elections.
Their announcement came after heavy gunfire erupted near the presidential palace earlier in the day, with men in military uniform occupying the major route leading to the structure.
In the early afternoon, General Denis N’Canha, head of the presidential military office, informed the press that a command “composed of all branches of the armed forces, was taking over the leadership of the country until further notice.”
He read the statement while seated at a table, flanked by armed guards.
Umaro Sissoco Embalo, the incumbent president who was expected to win Sunday’s poll, was inside a building behind military headquarters “with the chief of staff and the minister of the interior,” a senior officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
It was not immediately clear whether the president had been apprehended.
Embalo and opposition candidate Fernando Dias had already declared victory in the presidential race, with official provisional results anticipated on Thursday.
Since independence, the volatile West African country has seen four coups and numerous coup attempts.
In his declaration, N’Canha claimed to have discovered a scheme to destabilize the country “involving national drug lords” that involved “the introduction of weapons into the country to alter the constitutional order.”
He stated that military forces had banned “all media programming” and imposed a strict curfew in addition to suspending “the entire electoral process.”
Guinea-Bissau is one of the world’s poorest countries, as well as a gateway for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, which is assisted by the country’s long history of political instability.
Guinea-Bissau’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) was also attacked by unidentified armed men on Wednesday, according to commission communications official Abdourahmane Djalo.
