Guinea-Bissau sees off an attempted coup
The president says it was linked to the powerful drug trade
FOR THE second time in just over a week heavy gunfire rang out from government buildings in a west African capital, this time in Guinea-Bissau’s. This coup attempt failed, unlike the earlier putsch in Burkina Faso. On February 1st President Umaro Sissoco Embaló declared he had faced down not just a coup, but “an attempt to kill the president, the prime minister and all the cabinet”. At least 11 people died in the firefight. Mr Embaló, a former army man, suggested the coup could “be related to people involved in drug-trafficking”, without elaborating.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Pushers and putschists”
From the February 5th 2022 edition
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