According to the respective governments, there were two coup attempts in West Africa within a few days – first in Sierra Leone and then on Friday in Guinea-Bissau. Local media initially reported that shots were fired in the capital, Bissau. Soldiers freed the finance minister and a secretary of state detained from police cells. The National Guard took the two to an unknown location and then barricaded themselves in military barracks, it was said.
Claudia Broel
African political correspondent based in Cape Town.
President Umaro Sissoco Embaló returned from the climate conference in Dubai on Saturday and spoke of an attempted coup d’état. Around noon, the military announced the capture and surrender of the commander of the National Guard, according to the AFP news agency. Afterwards, calm apparently returned, with military vehicles continuing to be seen on the streets of the capital. At least two people reportedly died in the exchange of gunfire.
Finance Minister Souleiman Seidi and António Monteiro, the secretary of state, were detained following allegations of opposition corruption to prevent them from influencing the investigation, officials said. On Thursday, the two were questioned by an anti-corruption unit about government payments to several companies totaling $11 million. The Finance Minister said the payments were made legally and were intended to support the private sector.
Drug trafficking center
Since independence from Portugal, there have been repeated coups and coup attempts in Guinea-Bissau. Embaló, 51, who has governed the country of two million inhabitants since 2020, only survived an attempted coup in February last year. Eleven presidential guard soldiers were killed. To this day, the antecedents of the attack are not known. The president blamed the “drug mafia”. Opposition politicians accused him of just wanting to present himself as a clean man and, at the same time, profit from the international drug trade.
Guinea-Bissau has been considered an important hub for years, especially for cocaine from South America. As a joint FAZ and MDR investigation recently showed, following the 2022 coup, the son of the former President of Guinea-Bissau, Malam Bacai Sanhá, stated in a conversation with an American secret agent who was behind the attack. The aim of his co-conspirators was to install a “drug-friendly” government. At least that’s how an official from the US drug enforcement agency DEA later described it in court. American authorities accuse the president’s son of being deeply involved in drug trafficking and having maintained contacts with, among other things, Colombian cartels and the Calabrian mafia. He is accused of heroin smuggling.
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A local journalist from Guinea-Bissau has now told the British broadcaster BBC a link between the two coup attempts. Last year, high-ranking members of the army were arrested without conviction. Since then, there have been calls for his release. Other observers pointed to old rivalries between the president and the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which won the parliamentary elections. Embaló is part of a dissident group from the party.
Around 450 kilometers to the south, in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, gunfire had already occurred last weekend. Armed forces attempted to raid a weapons depot near the presidential residence. They then raided two prisons and freed around 2,000 prisoners. According to the military, 20 people were killed. There were numerous arrests.
Image: FAZ
In the case of Sierra Leone, a link with the June presidential elections is obvious. Incumbent Julius Maada Bio narrowly won, without a second round. The result was controversial, with international observers criticizing the lack of transparency. The largest opposition party refused to fill its parliamentary seats for four months. Only the mediation of the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS) resolved the situation.
Behind the coup attempt may be disputes over influence and benefits after the elections. Furthermore, there is great dissatisfaction among the population given the difficult economic situation. Sierra Leone also has a history full of coups d’état and acts of violence. Two decades ago, a civil war ended in which two million people were killed or displaced. Since then there has been relative stability. Last year, however, at least 33 people died in protests against the high cost of living, corruption and police violence. At the time, the president spoke of an “attempted coup d’état by terrorists”.
In West Africa, there have also been coups d’état in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea since 2020. A welcome exception was Liberia, a former civil war country that was also badly damaged and where a peaceful change of president took place a few years ago. a few weeks. Former president and football star George Weah has admitted his defeat to opposition candidate Joseph Boakai ahead of the official announcement of election results.