Guinea-Bissau President Refers Clash as “Attempted Coup”

By Xinhua 

December 3, 2023

Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on Saturday said this week’s deadly violence in the capital was an “attempted coup” with “serious consequences for all those involved.”

Embalo spoke to the press at Osvaldo Vieira International Airport Saturday evening after his return from Dubai, where he attended the COP28 climate conference.

Clashes between elements of the National Guard and special forces of the Presidential Guard broke out during the night from Thursday to Friday.

A press release from the General Staff of the Armed Forces said that at 8 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Thursday, a group of soldiers, led by their commander Colonel Victor Tchongo, released individuals who were being questioned at the judicial police building.

Tchongo and some of his people were arrested Friday morning by the military police, according to military sources.

Tchongo “was at the request of someone to remove the Minister of Finance from the prisons of the judicial police”, said Embalo, adding he would create next Monday “a commission of inquiry to investigate the situation of the attempted coup.”

On Feb. 1, 2022, members of the Guinea-Bissau army launched a failed coup against Embalo.