A group of army officers said they had seized power in coup-prone Guinea-Bissau on Wednesday, a day before the planned announcement of results from a hotly contested presidential election.
In a statement read on state television by spokesperson Diniz N’Tchama, the army officers said they had ousted President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, suspended the electoral process, shut borders and would enforce a curfew.
Shortly after, Embalo told France 24 TV: “I have been deposed.”
The army officers said in their statement that they had formed “The High Military Command for the Restoration of Order” and would be in charge of the West African nation until further notice.
The officers did not specify if they had taken Embalo into custody. Two security sources told Reuters that he was being held at the office of the army chief of staff.
In a video statement distributed by his campaign late Wednesday, Fernando Dias, Embalo’s top challenger in the election, said he was free and in a safe place after armed men tried to take him into custody.
Dias said former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, who Embalo defeated in the 2019 election, had been detained.