Guinea-Bissau‘s president took the step of dissolving parliament on Monday, citing an “attempted coup” that has thrown the West African nation into a state of turmoil.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo announced the closure of the opposition-dominated parliament through a decree, indicating that the date for legislative elections would be determined “in line with the constitution.”
Members of the national guard and special forces of the presidential guard engaged in violence on Thursday night in the capital Bissau, resulting in two fatalities.
Embalo, back in Bissau on Saturday after attending the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, revealed that an “attempted coup d’etat” had hindered his prompt return.
On Monday, he said there had been “complicity” between the national guard and ‘certain political interests within the State apparatus’.
That meant ‘the normal functioning of the institutions of the Republic has become impossible’.
‘These facts confirm the existence of a grave political crisis,’ he added.
Since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974, the country has seen a series of coups and coup attempts.
Read also: Guinea-Bissau President Cries Out Over ‘Attempted Coup’
Elected to a five-year term in December 2019, Embalo survived a bid to overthrow him in February 2022.
Members of the National Guard had Thursday evening stormed a police station to extract Finance Minister Souleiman Seidi and Treasury Secretary Antonio Monteiro, who were being held for questioning, according to army and intelligence officers.
The guardsmen then took shelter at a military camp in the capital where they held out until Friday.
Calm had returned by noon Friday following an announcement that the army had captured national guard commander Colonel Victor Tchongo.
The skirmishes are considered the latest flare-up in the deep political divide between the opposition-led government and the presidency.
The National Guard is under the control of the interior ministry, which, like most ministries in the country, is dominated by the PAIGC party whose coalition won the June 2023 elections.
The presidency holds sway over the prosecutor’s office, which directed the questioning of the two government officials.
Detained again, the two officials were answering questions about the withdrawal of $10 million from state accounts when the army removed them from National Guard protection.
In Monday’s decree, the president condemned “the passivity of the government”, adding that the national guard had sought to block investigations into the two high officials.