The democratic elected government of Guinea-Bissau, a small west African country was tensed up with heavy gunfire at the Capital, Bissau, on Tuesday afternoon, as reported by AFP. ayokinews.com reports
The presidential palace was encircled by highly armed men, where President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam were set to meet with ministers.
The military presence near the government palace, which is not far from the airport, heightened tensions. An armed man ordered him to step aside at gunpoint, according to an AFP reporter.
People were seen fleeing the scene in the area surrounding the airport. Markets were depleted, and banks were shuttered.
Several military trucks carrying troops traversed the streets.
Guinea-Bissau, a small nation bordering Senegal and Guinea with a population of around two million people, is no stranger to political upheaval. It has experienced four putsches [coups] (the most recent in 2012), a number of attempted coups, and a succession of administrations since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974 following a protracted war of freedom.
It has been moving toward a restoration to constitutional order since 2014, which hasn’t stopped it from experiencing volatility, but without bloodshed.
Corruption is widespread in the country. It is also regarded as a crossroads for cocaine trafficking from Latin America to Europe.
Umaro Sissoco Embalo, a former general, has been the president of Guinea and Cape Verde since the beginning of 2020, following a presidential election whose outcome is still being contested by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the country’s dominant party since independence.
Source (Credit): AFP
