Guinea-Bissau's President, Umaru Sissoko Embalo, declared on Saturday that the bloody violence that occurred in the capital this week between the army and members of the National Guard was a "coup attempt."
Embalo, who was attending the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, said after his return to Bissau that he was unable to return immediately “due to the coup attempt. I must inform you that this action will carry serious consequences.”
Clashes broke out on Thursday night between members of the National Guard holed up in a barracks in the south of the city and the Special Forces of the Presidential Guard, resulting in at least two deaths. A military official said that 6 wounded soldiers had been evacuated to neighboring Senegal.
Calm returned on Friday afternoon with the announcement of the arrest or surrender of National Guard Commander Colonel Victor Chungu.
The Guinea-Bissau Army announced in a statement that some officers and soldiers of the National Guard were deployed inside the country, without specifying their number. He continued: "The General Staff of the Armed Forces informs them that they must return to their place of assignment."
In a statement, ECOWAS "strongly condemned the acts of violence and all attempts aimed at disrupting the constitutional order and the rule of law in Guinea-Bissau," calling "for the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of these events." It expressed its "full solidarity with the people and constitutional authorities of Guinea-Bissau."
These events took place in the absence of President Umaru Sissoko Embalo, who is participating in the climate conference in Dubai and is scheduled to return to Guinea-Bissau on Saturday evening, according to those close to him.
Guinea Bissau suffers from chronic instability and has witnessed many coups and coup attempts since its independence from Portugal in 1974, the last of which was in February 2022.