Heavy gunfire erupted near Guinea-Bissau's presidential palace on Wednesday, November 26, 2025, as military officers seized control of the coup-prone West African nation just three days after contentious presidential and legislative elections.
Military Declares Total Control
Brigadier General Denis N'Canha, head of the military office of the presidency, announced during a press conference at the General Staff of the Armed Forces that a command "composed of all branches of the armed forces" was taking over the country's leadership until further notice.
The general made the declaration while seated at a table surrounded by armed soldiers, stating the military now exercised total control over the nation. The military immediately closed the country's borders and suspended the ongoing electoral process.
Election Crisis Precedes Takeover
The military intervention comes amid a deepening political crisis following Sunday's general elections. Both incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and opposition candidate Fernando Dias had already declared victory in the presidential race, with official provisional results expected on Thursday.
According to a senior officer speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, President Embalo was inside a building behind military headquarters "with the chief of staff and the minister of the interior" at the time of the takeover. It remains unclear whether the president has been arrested.
History of Political Instability
Guinea-Bissau has experienced four successful coups since independence from Portugal in 1974, along with multiple attempted takeovers. The country ranks among the world's poorest nations and serves as a major hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe.
In his declaration, General N'Canha claimed the military had uncovered a plan to destabilize the country "involving national drug lords" that included "the introduction of weapons into the country to alter the constitutional order."
The military has imposed several immediate measures:
- Suspension of the entire electoral process
- Closure of all borders
- Suspension of all media programming
- Implementation of a mandatory curfew
In a separate incident on Wednesday, unidentified armed men attacked Guinea-Bissau's National Electoral Commission (CNE), according to commission communications official Abdourahmane Djalo.
Regional Security Concerns
More than 6,780 security forces, including personnel from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Stabilisation Force, had been deployed for Guinea-Bissau's vote and the post-election period.
The current crisis echoes the country's 2019 presidential election, which was marked by a four-month post-election crisis as both main candidates claimed victory. The 2025 election notably excluded the main opposition party PAIGC and its candidate Domingos Simoes Pereira after the Supreme Court struck them from the final list of candidates for filing their applications too late.
President Embalo had dissolved the opposition-dominated legislature in 2023 and has since ruled by decree. The opposition maintains that Embalo's term expired on February 27, 2025, exactly five years after his inauguration.
