Photo credit: BBC
A group of military officers say they have seized control of Guinea-Bissau amid reports that the president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, has been arrested.
The BBC reports that the officers then appeared on state TV and said they had suspended the electoral process. The nation was awaiting the outcome of Sunday’s presidential election.
They said they were acting to thwart a plot by unnamed politicians who had “the support of a well[-known drug baron” to destabilise the country, and announced the closure of its borders. They also imposed a night-time curfew.
The country is known as a notorious drug-traffcjing hub where the military has been influential since independence from Portugal in 1974.
Late on Wednesday afternoon, Embalo told France 24 in a phone call: “I have been deposed.”
Government sources have also said Embalo’s closest rival in the presidential race, Fernando Dias and his major supporter and former Prime Minister Domingos Pereira along with Interior Minister Botche Cande have also been detained .
The plotters have also arrested army chief Gen. Biague Na Ntan and his deputy, Gen. Mamadou Toure, according to sources
Later on, Gen. Denis N/’canha, head of the military household at the presidential palace, read a statement declaring a takeover..
