2023 Guinea-Bissau clashes

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

On 30 November 2023, clashes broke out in Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, after the National Guard released two ministers accused of corruption from detention and brought them to safety. The ministers were Finance Minister Souleiman Seidi and Treasury Secretary António Monteiro, who had been questioned in an anti-corruption inquiry into alleged irregular withdrawals of state funds.

The National Guard’s actions prompted a confrontation with government forces. National Guard commander Colonel Victor Tchongo was arrested by authorities. President Umaro Sissoco Embaló called the incident an attempted coup and, in the days that followed, moved to neutralize what he saw as a threat to his government.

Fighting continued through the night of 30 November into 1 December in several areas around Bissau, including Antula and Luanda. By the morning of 1 December, the army said Tchongo had been captured, although some reports said he had surrendered. Two people were killed in the fighting, and six pro-government soldiers were injured and treated in Senegal. The National Guard suffered more defections as some officers fled into the interior.

Regional and international actors urged calm and respect for the law. ECOWAS sent stabilisation forces to patrol the streets, and the African Union and the United Nations called for restraint and the protection of constitutional order.

In the aftermath, Embaló returned from an international trip to reverse some actions taken during the crisis. He dismissed Tchongo as National Guard commander and accused him of betrayal, alleging complicity with political interests inside the state apparatus. On 4 December, Embaló dissolved Guinea-Bissau’s National People’s Assembly and placed soldiers at state media outlets, while keeping Prime Minister Geraldo Martins in office but taking over the defence and interior ministries.

The dissolution sparked protests and accusations of a constitutional coup. The assembly’s speaker argued that the president could not dissolve the legislature within the first 12 months after elections, which had taken place in June 2023. Later, on 20 December, Embaló replaced Martins with Rui Duarte de Barros, another member of the PAIGC party.

ECOWAS reaffirmed its condemnation of the violence and called for those responsible to be prosecuted. The AU and the UN also urged calm and respect for democratic processes.

Guinea-Bissau has a history of political instability and coups, with frequent clashes and power struggles affecting governance since its independence in 1974.