conflicts
Killed and injured in attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau
“They didn’t just want a coup d’état, they wanted to kill the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the Ministers”: President Umaro Sissoco Embaló (archive photo). Photo: Michel Euler/AP/dpa
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After an attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, the situation remains unclear. The failed coup is a bad sign for the region, where military coups are piling up.
According to the president, several people were killed and injured in an attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.
According to the Portuguese newspaper “Público”, Umaro Sissoco Embaló did not give exact figures on Wednesday night. The local radio station Bantaba reported six dead.
Security forces were able to stop the attack after a five-hour exchange of gunfire on Tuesday evening, it said. In the former Portuguese colony with almost two million inhabitants, “calm has returned,” said the president.
Embaló spoke of a “well-prepared and organized attack” by soldiers, in which “people related to drug trafficking” could also have been involved. The President accused those responsible for the attempted coup, which he said had failed, of wanting to kill him and the government. “They didn’t just want a coup d’etat, they wanted to kill the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the ministers,” he said, according to the Portuguese news agency Lusa. However, further backgrounds remained unclear on Wednesday.
The regional community of states Ecowas, the African Union and UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed “deeply concern” and called for an immediate return to the constitutional order.
The attempted coup did not come as a complete surprise. Rumors were already circulating in October that there were plans for a coup within the army. At the beginning of 2020, Embaló declared himself the winner after controversial presidential elections. Ecowas only recognized the result weeks later. Since then, Embaló has ruled with an iron fist. He is accused of persecuting members of the opposition, journalists and human rights activists. A few days before the coup attempt, Embaló reshuffled his cabinet.
The West African country with its almost two million inhabitants is considered a hub for cocaine smuggling between Latin America and Europe and has already experienced several coups and coup attempts since its independence from Portugal in 1974. The country on the Atlantic, with an area almost the same as that of Switzerland, is one of the poorest countries in the world with its predominantly young population. Although Guinea-Bissau has mineral resources such as gold, gas and bauxite, agriculture is considered the largest source of foreign exchange for the national economy.
In the region, the military seized power in overthrows in the past 18 months in the crisis-hit countries of Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso. Experts worry about the stability of the region.