Hours after gunshots had been heard close to the Guinea-Bissau electoral fee headquarters on Wednesday, a gaggle of army officers introduced a takeover of the federal government till “additional discover.”
The gunfire lasted for about an hour. Nevertheless, no casualties had been recorded.
The military, in its speech, introduced the removing of incumbent President Umaro Embalo from energy, the halt of the electoral course of, the closure of the nation’s borders, and the imposition of a curfew.
This has drawn criticism throughout West Africa, with a number of governments and regional blocs calling for a return to constitutional order.
The Nigerian authorities described the coup as a breach of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. It additionally famous that the coup undermined the regional commitments member states have made to constitutional rule and political stability.
The election observer missions of the African Union and ECOWAS additionally referred to as the coup an try and erode the nation’s progress towards stability. Ghana mentioned it considered the “growth with profound concern” and expressed “deep dissatisfaction on the brazen try and overturn the need of the folks of Guinea-Bissau.”
As requires a return to democratic rule intensify, listed below are 5 key info it’s best to learn about Guinea-Bissau.
1. A historical past of coups
The 26 November coup isn’t the primary coup the nation has skilled, neither is it the primary army takeover in current instances.
Guinea-Bissau has confronted continual political instability since its independence from Portugal in 1974. Energy struggles between the army and civilian leaders, weak state establishments, and factional politics have repeatedly triggered army interventions.
The nation’s first coup was in 1980, when President Luis Cabral was ousted in a cold coup led by Prime Minister Joao Vieira.
5 years later, a number of senior army officers, together with the primary vice chairman, had been arrested for an alleged coup try in opposition to the Prime Minister.
Six of these detained had been executed in 1986, whereas many others died in detention.
Between 1998 and 1999, a civil-military battle erupted after Mr Vieira dismissed his military chief. The combating ended when he was ousted in 1999 by Ansumane Mane, one other army ruler.
The nation additionally skilled one other coup in 2003, overthrowing an interim elected president, Kumba Ial. The nation additionally skilled coups in 2009, 2012, and 2022.
In 2023, President Umaro Embalo dissolved the nation’s parliament, alleging that components throughout the safety forces had been plotting to take away him. Then, in October 2025, the military arrested a few of its officers over a foiled coup plot.
2. Coup stops announcement of election outcomes
Wednesday’s coup, carried out by a gaggle of officers who describe themselves because the “Excessive Army Command for the Restoration of Order,” occurred earlier than the scheduled launch of election outcomes.
The nation held its presidential election on Sunday, and the outcomes had been to be introduced on Thursday.
The ballot, in response to observers, was largely peaceable and had a big voter turnout.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the election had pitted incumbent President Embalo, the candidate of Madem‑G15, in opposition to main opposition candidate Fernando Dias, the candidate of the Get together for Social Renewal (PRS).
Each candidates had earlier introduced themselves because the winner of the election.
Simply two days earlier than the coup, the opposition candidate, Mr Dias, had mentioned, “We now have gained the presidential race. We is not going to have a runoff. My individuals are very drained, they usually want a change on the prime of the state.”
Nevertheless, Oscar Barbosa, a spokesperson for Embalo’s marketing campaign, advised a separate press convention that Mr Embalo had gained outright, ruling out the necessity for a runoff.
3. Incumbent president sought second time period
Mr Embalo sought to turn out to be the primary president in 30 years to safe a second consecutive time period.
He announced his resolution to run for a second time period in March amid severe political tensions.
The opposition additionally vehemently refused to recognise him because the nation’s present president, arguing that his first time period had already ended.
Formally, Mr Embalo’s time period led to February.
“I might be a candidate for my very own succession,” Mr Embalo had mentioned to reporters on the time.
Guinea-Bissau’s structure units the presidential time period at 5 years, renewable as soon as, which allowed Mr Embalo to pursue a second time period.
He argued that his first time period’s initiatives, notably in safety, financial reforms, and political stabilisation, wanted extra time to be totally carried out.
4. Oldest political occasion barred from election
In the meantime, in September, the primary opposition occasion, the African Get together for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), was disqualified from taking part within the elections.
The official purpose given for this was that it allegedly did not submit its checklist of candidates 72 hours earlier than the registration deadline, which was thought of late. Nevertheless, observers and opposition events argued that the allegation was politically motivated, including that judicial and electoral guidelines had been getting used to exclude the primary opposition and thereby tilt the enjoying discipline in Mr Embaló’s favour.
The ban on PAIGC made the election far much less aggressive. The occasion that fought for the nation’s independence from Portugal was the oldest and traditionally most influential occasion within the nation.
That is the primary time since independence that this occasion has been excluded from a presidential race.
The occasion, led by the previous Prime Minister, Domingos Pereira, threw its weight behind the main opposition candidate.
5. Guinea-Bissau’s Portuguese historical past
Guinea-Bissau was colonised by Portugal. The nation was below colonial management for many years and gained independence in 1964. In West Africa, solely three international locations have Portuguese colonial historical past: Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
Portugal started by establishing buying and selling posts alongside the coast of present-day Guinea-Bissau as early because the late fifteenth century, making it one of many earliest factors of European contact in West Africa.
For a lot of this era, nonetheless, Portugal’s affect remained restricted to coastal enclaves concerned in commerce. Colonial management started successfully within the late nineteenth century, when Portugal began army campaigns to claim authority over the inside, a course of also known as “pacification”.
These campaigns continued into the early twentieth century and had been largely accomplished by round 1915.
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The independence of the West African nation occurred by means of years of armed battle between Portugal and the PAIGC, which on the time was backed by Cuba, the USSR, and Yugoslavia.
The nation declared independence in 1973, whereas Portugal formally recognised it in 1974 after the Carnation Revolution ended the dictatorship in Lisbon.
Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe had been additionally colonised till the Nineteen Seventies, when independence actions gained momentum, and Portugal’s 1974 revolution introduced an finish to the rule.
