>>18035 (OP)On the afternoon of Wednesday 26 November, a body styling itself the “High Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order” announced that it was ousting President Umaro Sissoco Embaló, taking “full control” of Guinea-Bissau, halting the electoral process and closing land and air borders.
A curfew was also imposed. The announcement was made in a statement read at armed forces headquarters in the capital by Brigadier General Denis N’Canha, head of the presidency’s military office.
Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embaló told Jeune Afrique that he was arrested this Wednesday, 26 November, at around 1pm while he was in his office at the presidential palace.
The presidential election took place last Sunday, and the outgoing president said he had won with 65% of the vote, by his own count.
Also arrested were the armed forces’ chief of staff, General Biague Na Ntan; the deputy chief of staff, General Mamadou Toure; and the interior minister, Botche Cande.
According to the president, no force was used against him during what he calls a “coup d’etat”, which he says was led by the army chief of staff.
Journalists covering the election described a rapidly deteriorating security situation in the capital.
“Gunfire at the National Electoral Commission (CNE) headquarters and areas around,” says one reporter whose team had been monitoring the vote count. “We are hidden in the office of the CNE communication officer.”
The coup leaders have issued a communique, claiming the "High Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order" was reacting to a destabilisation plot "put in place by certain national politicians with the participation of [a]well-known drug baron."
The camp of incumbent President Embaló and opposition candidate Fernando Dias de Costa have each claimed first-round victory in Guinea-Bissau’s 23 November presidential election, even though the official provisional results are not due until Thursday 27 November.