Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo has been arrested in what he calls a coup, just three days after claiming vic...
Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo has been arrested in what he calls a coup, just three days after claiming victory in contested elections.
The 53-year-old leader told French publication Jeune Afrique he was arrested Wednesday, November 26, around 1pm while in his office at the presidential palace. Gunshots were reportedly heard around the electoral commission building in the capital Bissau as the situation unfolded.
Also arrested were the armed forces' chief of staff General Biaguê Na Ntan, the deputy chief of staff General Mamadou Touré, and Interior Minister Botché Candé.
According to Embalo, no force was used during the arrests, which he says were led by the army chief of staff.
The arrest comes amid an explosive electoral dispute that has gripped the tiny West African nation.
The presidential election took place last Sunday, November 23, with Embalo claiming he won with 65 percent of the vote by his own count.
But his main challenger, Fernando Dias de Costa, also declared victory before official results were released.
Both campaigns claimed their candidate exceeded the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright, eliminating the need for a runoff. Official provisional results weren't due until Thursday, November 27.
The dual victory claims set the stage for the current crisis. Embalo's insistence on pre-emptively declaring victory, coupled with alleged pressure on institutions to validate his figures, appears to have triggered decisive pushback from factions within the army.
Guinea-Bissau has been teetering on the edge for months. Embalo's five-year term technically expired in February 2025, but he remained in office after the Supreme Court ruled his term extended until September.
The opposition has refused to recognize him as legitimate president throughout this period.
The November 23 election was supposed to resolve the legitimacy crisis. Instead, it appears to have ignited one.
The camp of incumbent President Embalo and opposition candidate Fernando Dias de Costa each claimed first-round victory even though official provisional results were not due until Thursday.
The arrests signal a dramatic rupture between the presidency and the military hierarchy, long regarded as the ultimate arbiter of political power in Guinea-Bissau.
For a country that has endured four successful coups and 17 coup attempts since independence from Portugal in 1974, this latest crisis follows a familiar and tragic pattern.
The election itself was deeply flawed from the start. The country's main opposition force, the PAIGC, and its leader Domingos Simoes Pereira were barred from participating. This left Embalo facing weakened opposition, yet even that wasn't enough to prevent the current impasse.
The unexpectedly competitive performance of Fernando Dias de Costa fractured the political narrative, with both camps moving swiftly to claim victory ahead of the electoral commission's announcement.
Embalo's tenure has been marked by escalating authoritarianism and institutional breakdown.
He dissolved the opposition-controlled parliament in 2022 after what he described as a coup attempt, though critics saw the move as a power grab. He has clashed repeatedly with political opponents and marginalized rival factions.
Embalo's efforts to centralize authority, reshape the security services and marginalize political rivals deepened mistrust within both the political class and armed forces. That mistrust has now exploded into open confrontation.
The international community has watched Guinea-Bissau's spiral with concern. A West African regional mediation mission arrived in March to help resolve the constitutional crisis but left abruptly after what it said were threats of expulsion from Embalo.
The situation in Guinea-Bissau matters beyond its borders. The country sits in a volatile region where military coups have become alarmingly common in recent years.
Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have all seen successful military takeovers since 2020, raising fears about democratic backsliding across West Africa.
Guinea-Bissau's instability also has implications for drug trafficking and organized crime. The small nation has struggled with narco-trafficking networks that use it as a transit point for cocaine from South America to Europe, earning it the unfortunate nickname of Africa's first "narco-state."
For ordinary citizens of Guinea-Bissau, the latest crisis means continued uncertainty, economic hardship, and the ever-present threat of violence.
The country of roughly two million people remains one of the poorest in the world despite having natural resources including cashew nuts, fish, and potential offshore oil.
As news of the arrests spread Wednesday afternoon, residents in Bissau reportedly ran for safety amid the sound of gunshots.
Video footage circulating on social media showed people fleeing in panic, though the extent of violence remains unclear.
The fate of Embalo and the arrested military and government officials remains uncertain. So does the political future of Guinea-Bissau itself.
Will the military install a new leader? Will they call for fresh elections? Will international pressure force a negotiated settlement?
What's clear is that Guinea-Bissau's attempt to resolve its legitimacy crisis through elections has failed spectacularly.
Instead of settling the question of who leads the country, the November 23 vote appears to have pushed an already fragile state over the edge into another chapter of instability.
For Embalo, who came to power in 2020 promising stability and development, the arrest represents a dramatic fall.
Whether he genuinely won the November 23 election or attempted to steal it through manipulation may never be definitively established. What matters now is that the military has rejected his claim to power.
The fallout reflects Guinea-Bissau's long-running institutional fragility. Weak democratic institutions, a politicized military, deep-seated corruption, and a political class more focused on power than governance have created a toxic mix that periodically explodes into crisis.
As Guinea-Bissau enters yet another period of uncertainty, neighboring countries and international partners face difficult questions about how to respond.
Condemning the coup is easy. Finding a path back to legitimate, stable governance is far harder in a country where coups have become almost routine and democratic institutions remain dangerously weak.
For now, President Embalo sits under arrest, the military controls the capital, and Guinea-Bissau's future hangs in the balance once again.
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