Several people have been killed in a firefight outside a government building in the capital of Guinea-Bissau, which the president of the West African country describes as a “failed attack on democracy”. He said many members of the security forces were killed in the alleged coup attempt.
It is not yet clear what exactly happened in the capital Bissau. Shots were fired at the building where the government was meeting this afternoon. President Embaló was also present at that meeting. He is now back in his official residence.
Leger
Against the news site Young Africa The president says the situation is now under control. The African Union and Ecowas, alliances of virtually all African countries and the states in West Africa respectively, speak of a coup attempt.
The partnerships say they are monitoring the situation in Guinea-Bissau with great concern. Ecowas holds the army responsible for the possible coup.
Coups in West Africa
United Nations Secretary-General Guterres also said in a response that he was concerned about the situation in Guinea-Bissau. He stresses that the country’s democratically elected institutions must be respected and that coups are “completely unacceptable”.
Last week, the military of Burkina Faso, also a West African country, the president of. The military accuses the head of state that he does not give them enough space to fight radical Islamic militias. In September there was also a coup in guinea, a neighboring country of Guinea-Bissau. The president was imprisoned by the military.
In Mali militants detained the interim government’s president, prime minister and defense minister in May last year. That transitional government had been established just nine months earlier, after a another coup.
unstable
The Portuguese embassy in Guinea-Bissau has urged residents to stay indoors. Guinea-Bissau was a Portuguese colony until 1974. Since the country’s independence, nine coups have been committed or attempted and the political situation is far from stable.
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