– Europe Press / Contact / Aliu Kandi
Madrid, November 26 (European Press) –
The Guinea-Bissau army confirmed on Wednesday a coup and the overthrow of President Oumar Sissoko Embalo, amid tensions over Sunday’s general elections, a process it declared “suspension”, shortly after the president said he had been arrested by the army in his office at the presidential palace.
In a message to residents broadcast by the public television channel, Television Guinea-Bissau (TGB), military spokesman Denis Ntshama noted that the coup seeks to “restore national security and public order,” before stating that the new junta “assumes all powers of the state.”
Shortly before, Embalo had denounced the riots and confirmed that he was under arrest along with several senior officials, including the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, Biag Na Natan. Also detained are Mamadou Toure, Na Ntan’s second-in-command, and Interior Minister Buchi Kande.
Nchama’s statement came after several video clips published on social media showed gunfire in the capital, Bissau, while the Guinean newspaper “O Democracy” indicated that shots were fired around the Palace of the Republic and the headquarters of the National Elections Commission, without information about the victims so far.