Military coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau; UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asks for immediate end to fighting
Feb 02, 2022
Bissau [Guinea-Bissau], February 2 : A coup attempt took place in a small coastal nation in West Africa, Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday as military trucks raced through the streets and civilians fled amid heavy gunfire, reported New York Times.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply concerned with the news of heavy fighting in Bissau and asked for an immediate end to the fighting and for full respect of the country's democratic institutions.
However, after some hours of the attempted coup, President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo reasserts control and said that the armed personnel were thwarted.
Embalo said that many of his own security forces members were killed in the conflict with possible links to drug trafficking, reported the newspaper.
He termed the attempted coup as a "failed attack against democracy" and said that he could not comment as to how many had been arrested.
"It wasn't just a coup. It was an attempt to kill the president, the prime minister and the entire cabinet.", he added.
Notably, Guinea-Bissau has seen a total of four successful coups. The last coup was in 2021.
As far as attempted coups are concerned, perhaps a dozen ones must have been attempted since the small West African nation gained independence from Portugal 48 years ago, reported the newspaper.
