Military officers in Guinea-Bissau announced Wednesday they were taking “total control” of the country while suspending its electoral process and closing its borders, three days after the poverty-stricken west African nation’s legislative and presidential elections.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo told FRANCE 24 on Wednesday that he was deposed after military officers claimed taking total control of the country,
Military personnel made the announcement by reading a statement at army headquarters in the capital, Bissau, AFP journalists observed on the scene.
Earlier in the day gunfire was heard near the coup-prone country’s presidential palace as men in military uniform took over the main road leading to the building.
As shots rang out, people and vehicles fled from the area, the AFP journalist observed.
Official provisional vote results are expected Thursday in the tumultuous west African country, which has experienced four coups since independence, as well as multiple attempted coups.
Both the current president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, and opposition candidate Fernando Dias have declared victory.
A passerby fleeing from the chaotic scene said “we’re used to it in Bissau”.
Embalo had been expected to win the election, which until Wednesday had passed off peacefully.
