Guinea-Bissau: Umaro Sissoco Embaló arrested?

Heavy gunfire was heard around the government palace in Bissau. While President Umaro Sissoco Embaló was in the building for a Council of Ministers, was a coup underway?

It is in the Guinea-Bissau capital, Bissau, in the middle of the Council of Ministers, that sporadic shots were heard around the government palace. According to AFP and RFI, soldiers have deployed to all key points in the capital.

At the moment there is only one confirmed attack on the government palace in Bissau. But the coups d'etat follow one another in the West African sub-region. The latest, that of Burkina Faso. Imagining a new putsch, this time in Guinea-Bissau, is therefore legitimate.

🔴[ALERT] #GuineaBissau: situation still tense around the government palace in #Bissau. This video attests to the violence of the fighting. #putsh #ECOWAS pic.twitter.com/G5fjKQSGDB

- LSI AFRICA (@lsiafrica) -

According to military sources, the president was arrested

Embaló and the curse of the pustchs

President Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who is in his first term, was democratically elected in 2019 to lead the country. Unlike his overthrown colleagues in Mali, Guinea or Burkina Faso, Embaló is undeniably close to his people and relatively young.

And unlike, once again, Alpha Condé or Roch Kaboré, Umaro Sissoco Embaló has, since the beginning of his mandate, been clearly opposed to the establishment of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) .

If a coup d'etat is preparing in Guinea-Bissau, it will be difficult for the putschists to explain their act by any popular momentum, where several countries had been shaken by anti-power demonstrations.

In this West African country, the military has a historical tendency to overthrow presidents, José Mário Vaz being the only one to have been able to complete his term. So will Embaló end up like his predecessors?