The president of Guinea-Bissau on Monday dissolved parliament ahead of fresh elections saying an โattempted coupโ had plunged the West African nation into a new crisis.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo issued a decree closing down the opposition-dominated parliament and announced a date for legislative elections would be โset at the opportune moment, in line with the constitutionโ.
Violence had erupted between members of the national guard and special forces of the presidential guard on Thursday night in the capital Bissau, leaving two people dead.
Embalo, who was in Dubai attending the COP28 climate conference, arrived back in Bissau on Saturday and announced that an โattempted coup dโetatโ had prevented him from returning earlier.
On Monday, he said there had been โcomplicityโ between the national guard and โcertain political interests within the State apparatusโ.
That meant โthe normal functioning of the institutions of the Republic has become impossibleโ.
โThese facts confirm the existence of a grave political crisis,โ he added.
Since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974, the country has seen a series of coups and coup attempts.
Elected to a five-year term in December 2019, Embalo survived a bid to overthrow him in February 2022.
Members of the National Guard had Thursday evening stormed a police station to extract Finance Minister Souleiman Seidi and Treasury Secretary Antonio Monteiro, who were being held for questioning, according to army and intelligence officers.
The guardsmen then took shelter at a military camp in the capital where they held out until Friday.
Calm had returned by noon Friday following an announcement that the army had captured national guard commander Colonel Victor Tchongo.
The skirmishes are considered the latest flare-up in the deep political divide between the opposition-led government and the presidency.
The National Guard is under the control of the interior ministry, which, like most ministries in the country, is dominated by the PAIGC party whose coalition won the June 2023 elections.
The prosecutorโs office, which ordered the questioning of the two government officials, is controlled by the presidency.
โ Corruption against state โ
The two officials, who were answering questions about the withdrawal of $10 million from state accounts, were detained again after the army removed them from National Guard protection.
In Mondayโs decree, the president condemned โthe passivity of the governmentโ, adding that the national guard had sought to block investigations into the two high officials.
Embalo said parliament, which had debated the multi-million dollar withdrawal affair, โpreferred to defend members of the executive suspected of corruptionโ against the state, rather than โfight to apply the law rigorously โฆ and to exercise its role as a check on government actionsโ.
