Overview
- Army officers announced on state TV that a High Military Command has taken power and deposed President Umaro Sissoco Embalo.
- Embalo told France 24, “I have been deposed,” while military sources cited by AFP said he was detained and being well treated.
- The new junta halted the electoral process, shut land, air and sea borders, imposed a curfew and ordered media suspensions.
- Heavy gunfire was reported near the presidential palace, the electoral commission and the interior ministry, and the commission’s office was attacked and vote counting halted.
- Both Embalo and challenger Fernando Dias had claimed victory before official provisional results due Thursday, and it remains unclear whether the coup leaders command the full armed forces.