Guinea-Bissau has become the latest ECOWAS member to fall to a coup, with President Umaro Sissoco Embalo arrested alongside senior government and military officials.
Guinea-Bissau has plunged into political turmoil after a military coup saw President Umaro Sissoco Embalo arrested, alongside key senior officials.
With the president and top officials detained, the country becomes the latest ECOWAS member to come under military control, reducing the number of bloc members under civilian rule to eleven, down from twelve, which now include Benin, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
The nation has not yet announced whether it will exit ECOWAS.
The coup comes as the bloc continues to navigate challenges posed by the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), whose recent separation from ECOWAS has already tested the regional body’s diplomatic and sanctions mechanisms.
In an exclusive phone call with FRANCE 24, Embalo confirmed he had been removed from office.
“I have been deposed,” he said, adding that he could not speak further without risking his phone being confiscated. Embalo said he was “currently at the general staff headquarters.”
Earlier, Embalo told Jeune Afrique that he was being arrested after men in uniform stormed the presidential palace while he was in his office.
The coup comes just three days after a highly contested presidential election, in which the main opposition candidate had been disqualified.
Both Embalo and his closest rival, Fernando Dias, had claimed victory ahead of official results, heightening tensions in a nation with a long history of military interference. Witnesses reported gunfire across key areas of the city, causing chaos as civilians abandoned homes and streets became congested with vehicles.
NKONKONSA.com
