{"id":41999,"date":"2025-11-26T17:56:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T17:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/soldiers-say-they-have-taken-power-as-president-umaro-sissoco-embalo-arrested\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T17:56:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T17:56:24","slug":"soldiers-say-they-have-taken-power-as-president-umaro-sissoco-embalo-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/soldiers-say-they-have-taken-power-as-president-umaro-sissoco-embalo-arrested\/","title":{"rendered":"Soldiers say they have taken power as President Umaro Sissoco Embal\u00f3 arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Nicolas Negoce,<\/span>BBC Africa<\/span>and<\/span><\/p>\n

Wedaeli Chibelushi<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"AFPAFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The soldiers gave an address on state TV<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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A group of military officers say they have seized control of Guinea-Bissau amid reports that the president, Umaro Sissoco Embal\u00f3, has been arrested.<\/p>\n

Shortly after gunshots were heard in the capital, Bissau, government sources told the BBC that Embal\u00f3 had been detained.<\/p>\n

Military officers then appeared on state TV, saying they had suspended the electoral process and would be in charge until further notice.<\/p>\n

The West African nation had been awaiting the outcome of Sunday’s presidential election, in which the main opposition candidate had been disqualified from running.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The results were expected on Thursday – both Embal\u00f3 and his closest rival Fernando Dias have claimed victory.<\/p>\n

Late on Wednesday afternoon, Embal\u00f3 told France 24 in a phone call: “I have been deposed.”<\/p>\n

Witnesses in Bissau heard gunfire earlier on, at around 13:00 GMT, but it was not immediately clear who was involved in the shooting or if there were any casualties.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people on foot and in vehicles fled, seeking shelter as the shots rang out, the AFP news agency reported.<\/p>\n

Later on, General Denis N’Canha, head of the military household at the presidential palace, read out a statement declaring a takeover.<\/p>\n

He said officers had formed “the High Military Command for the Restoration of Order” and closed the border.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"CorbisCorbis via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Embal\u00f3 was elected in December 2019<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Gen N’Canha instructed the population to “remain calm”.<\/p>\n

In addition to Embal\u00f3, the president’s army staff and a number of ministers have reportedly been arrested.<\/p>\n

Guinea-Bissau, one of the poorest countries in the world, has seen nine coups or attempted coups since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974.<\/p>\n

Embal\u00f3 has said he has survived multiple coup attempts during his time in office. However, his critics allege he has fabricated crises in order to crack down on dissent.<\/p>\n

Guinea-Bissau has a population of just under two million people and has been called a “narco-state” by the UN, due to its role as a key transit point in trafficking cocaine from Latin America to Europe. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nicolas Negoce,BBC Africaand Wedaeli Chibelushi AFP via Getty Images The soldiers gave an address on state TV A group of military officers say they have seized control of Guinea-Bissau amid reports that the president, Umaro Sissoco Embal\u00f3, has been arrested. Shortly after gunshots were heard in the capital, Bissau, government sources told the BBC that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42001,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41999\/revisions\/42001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}