Darfur follow-up
Guinea-Bissau President Amr Sissoko Embalo said the shooting and clashes that broke out in the West African country’s capital on Friday were an attempted coup.
“I can assure you that the events of December 1, 2023 are another coup attempt and those responsible will suffer dire consequences,” Embalo told reporters after arriving from Dubai, where he was attending the COP28 climate summit.
“On February 1, 2022, we witnessed the same scenario,” Embalo said. “We still need to put an end to these unrest in Guinea Bissau once and for all.”
Sissoko Embalo added in a statement to the press upon his return from Dubai, where he participated in the COP28 climate conference, that he was unable to return immediately “due to the coup attempt.”
Sissoko thanked the armed forces for their “loyalty,” adding that “an investigation committee will be formed on Monday,” regarding the confrontations that took place at dawn on Friday between members of the National Guard and others from the army, which resulted in two deaths and injuries, 6 of whom were transferred to Senegal to receive treatment, according to media reports. Local media.
Clashes broke out between two army factions in Bissau on Thursday night and continued on Friday after National Guard soldiers released an opposition minister who was being held in a corruption investigation.
Order was restored in the afternoon in the small West African country where coups and unrest have been common since its independence from Portugal in 1974, the Bissau army said in a statement. At least six people were killed during a failed attempt to oust Embalo in February 2022.
Finance Minister Suleiman Sidi and Antonio Montero, the state secretary for the treasury, have been detained amid investigations into the alleged illegal withdrawal of $10 million (£8 million) in state funds.
In a parliamentary session on Monday, the leader of the country’s main opposition party claimed that the company owners were close to the leaders of the country’s ruling coalition.
Local media said that Sidi and Montero were arrested on Thursday after interrogation, and detained so as not to jeopardize the investigations.
Privately owned news newspaper O Democrata reported that National Guard soldiers later in the evening stormed police cells located near Bandim Market “with AK-47 weapons and a bazooka” and extracted the detained officials. She added that the National Guard took them to an unknown location.
Agence France-Presse reported that regional stability forces deployed by the ECOWAS regional group in West Africa were seen on Friday morning patrolling the streets.
Speaking to BBC Newshour, Alberto Dabo, a journalist in Bissau, linked recent events directly to what happened last year. “After the coup attempt, many of the senior army officials who were held responsible for it are in prison without any trial,” he added. Some senior members of the army are demanding their release.”
