(4 minutes read)
- A new twist has been spun to the coup in Guinea-Bissau. Guinean analyst Rui Jorge Semedo questioned whether the attack on the Government Palace on Tuesday was an attempted coup d’état or a terrorist attack
- He urged the government to clarify the situation, adding that there was a fair degree of confusion as how the event was rolled out and reported
A new twist has been spun to the coup in Guinea-Bissau. Guinean analyst Rui Jorge Semedo questioned whether the attack on the Government Palace on Tuesday was an attempted coup d’état or a terrorist attack. He urged the government to clarify the situation, adding that there was a fair degree of confusion as to how the event was rolled out and reported.
Armed men attacked on Tuesday the Government Palace of Guinea-Bissau, where a Council of Ministers was taking place. The meeting was attended by the President of the Republic, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, and the Prime Minister, Nuno Nabiam.
The analyst explained that both the President of the Republic and the government linked the act to people under investigation related to drug trafficking. The authorities also maintained that the people who carried out the attack supposedly had funding from abroad to mobilise the logistics and weaponry used. There are reports to indicate that there was participation of military personnel. There were reports that half a dozen people linked to the defence and security forces were involved. But at the same time, it was pointed out that the authorities did not assume the involvement of the Armed Forces in this act. According to Rui Jorge Semedo, this was where the doubt lies: whether it was an attempted coup d’état or an attack. He remarked that only a serious and credible investigation could dispel the doubts and unravel the reality.
The State of Guinea-Bissau, particularly the Presidency of the Republic and the Government, owes Guinean society an explanation for the death of good Guineans and for what reason, Semedo asserted. There are elements, he said, still not explained and the people have aright to know about it.
In the meantime, The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has announced the dispatch of a force to stabilise Guinea-Bissau. This is contained in the ECOWAS communiqué, issued Thursday evening after a summit of its leaders in Accra. However, the statement did not state the date of deployment of the force or its composition. The president’s office has yet to respond to this development.
ECOWAS deployed a force for stability and security in Guinea-Bissau after the April 2012 coup that toppled Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior between the two rounds of the presidential election for protecting the heads of institutions and public buildings. The force was made up of more than 1,000 Senegalese, Togolese, Burkinabe and Nigerian soldiers, gendarmes and police officers, and left the country only in September 2020.
