The African Union (AU) has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Embaló after the military took control of the country.
In a statement posted on X, AU chair Mahmoud Ali Youssouf urged the release of President Embaló and all detained government officials, stressing that the AU “unequivocally condemns the coup.”
The takeover was announced on Wednesday by General Denis N’Canha, head of the presidential military office, who said the armed forces had assumed control “until further notice.” He claimed the military uncovered a plot involving “drug lords” and an alleged plan to smuggle weapons into the country to disrupt the constitutional order.
General N’Canha said all electoral activities had been suspended, media broadcasts halted, and a mandatory curfew imposed.
Guinea-Bissau’s land, air, and sea borders were shut on Wednesday following the coup, but General Lassana Mansali told reporters on Thursday that they had been reopened.
President Embaló, who had been widely expected to win Sunday’s poll, was reportedly being held inside a building behind military headquarters “with the chief of staff and the minister of the interior,” according to a senior military officer who spoke to AFP anonymously.
Guinea-Bissau, one of the world’s poorest nations, has long served as a key transit hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, a situation worsened by decades of political instability. Political stability had been a major issue in the now-disrupted election.
— AFP
