BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau: A mutinous group of army officers went on state television Thursday to announce that they had seized power in coup-prone Guinea-Bissau, after intense gunfire near the National Electoral Commission and other main institutions in the capital, three days ahead of a closely fought presidential vote. They declared that they had “overthrown” President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and shut the borders in what is now being referred to as the West African nation’s most recent coup, on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025.
In a communiém ​quipey read on television, spokesman Diniz N’Tchama said the officers had created a “High Military Command for the Restoration of Order,” halted the electoral process, dissolved state institutions, and would govern” until further notice.” Embaló, in comments to French media, said he had been “deposed” and was under military control, while security sources said he was being held at the office of the army chief of staff.
The intervention suspended the planned release of the preliminary results of Sunday’s presidential and legislative elections, in which Embaló and his primary challenger, Fernando Dias, had both declared victory. Fratos Marinescu, a 63-year-old digital archivist at the election commission who was outside when the attack started, said he heard “huge bursts of sustained automatic fire” around three of those buildings — which also include the interior ministry and presidential palace — before troops set up checkpoints and told people to get away.
How the Guinea-Bissau coup played out around the vote
Gunfire was heard for about an hour near the election commission headquarters, according to Reuters reporters in Bissau, before dying down as heavily armed soldiers patrolled the streets downtown. The U.S. Embassy warned of military checkpoints across the city and deployment of tear gas, while residents described panic as people fled for cover and businesses hastily closed their shutters.
The election was not just disputed in and of itself. Its history of military coups has rattled the first party to win a multi-party election, the historic African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which was already barred from presenting a candidate for president, and civil society groups had questioned its fairness even before the race began when the coup in neighbouring Guinea-Bissau interrupted counting.
In its coverage, Al Jazeera noted that both Embaló and Dias had vowed to accept the people’s verdict. Still, each was quick to claim victory before official results were announced, heightening concerns of a standoff. And that standoff now seems to have been superseded by the force of arms, as the Guinea-Bissau coup leaders say they acted to prevent what they claim was a conspiracy by politicians and drug traffickers to rig the outcome.
Dias has said the president staged a “simulated coup” to skirt an election defeat, after saying he survived an arrest attempt by military soldiers last week and that he had already won the vote, reported The Associated Press. That charge was echoed by a leading civil society coalition, which accused the crisis of being leveraged to prevent publication of results. At the same time, army officers say they are responding to a plot aimed at undermining national stability.
International and regional response to the takeover
Observer missions from the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union, after having just seen both candidates, denounced the seizure of power and called for a swift return to constitutional rule. In a joint statement, they demanded the release of detained election officials and for troops to restore conditions to allow voting to continue, saying the Guinea-Bissau coup risked reversing years of fragile democratic headway. A Reuters dispatch on the observers’ report said that the missions called the events a “clear and blatant attempt to disrupt democracy.”
The Guardian reported that soldiers fanned out across key intersections, while a curfew was imposed and commercial flights delayed, as land and sea borders were closed. Portugal, the former colonial power, called for an end to violence and for vote counting to resume. At the same time, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres appealed to all parties, at a time of their choosing, to exercise restraint and respect the rule of law in addressing the political aftermath of the Guinea-Bissau coup.
A long history behind the Guinea-Bissau coup
The coup in Guinea-Bissau this week is part of a decades-long trend of military involvement in the small coastal nation, where repeated coups have shaken the country since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974. A 2012 Reuters report on an earlier takeover described the army’s role in “closing down” a presidential run-off, detaining senior politicians, and drawing international sanctions — emphasizing its political dominance.
Instability has scarcely abated amid more contemporary crises. In 2022, Embaló survived a violent assault on the government palace, which he called a foiled coup attempt, in which West Africa’s regional bloc deployed 600 troops for stabilization, as explained by Africanews’ reporting of the ECOWAS mission.
That dynamic repeated itself last year, when the president referred to a gun battle between National Guard units and labeled it another attempted ousting before firing senior officers, according to an AP report from December 2023. Less than three weeks before the current takeover, officials said they had foiled another coup attempt allegedly involving some senior officers — underlining the continuing power struggle between the presidency and parts of the security forces.
For most of Guinea-Bissau’s roughly 2 million people, the more immediate worries are pragmatic: for how long will borders remain sealed? Will salaries keep coming and services running? And will this latest coup in Guinea-Bissau dash the dream of a civilian government untainted by coups d’état once again? Now, with pressure growing from abroad, those officers who have taken over are coming under increasing pressure to provide a clear timetable, open up political space, and let the truncated elections play out.
