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| 2025 Guinea-Bissau coup d'état | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theCoup Belt | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Umaro Sissoco Embaló Botche Candé Biague Na NtanMamadou Touré Domingos Pereira | Denis N'Canha | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Unknown | |||||||
 | |||||||
On 26 November 2025, the president ofGuinea-Bissau,Umaro Sissoco Embaló was arrested as part of acoup d'état carried out by the army chief of staff. Military officers declared "total control" over the country and established theHigh Military Command for the Restoration of Order. The coup occurred a day before the results of the2025 Guinea-Bissau general election held on 23 November, in which Embaló was running for reelection, were expected to be officially announced.
General elections were held inGuinea-Bissau on 23 November 2025 to elect the president and members of theNational People's Assembly. The credibility of the vote was questioned by civil society groups and other observers after the main opposition party, thePAIGC, was barred from contesting the presidential election,[1] as well wasECOWAS withdrawing its observer mission after being threatened with expulsion.[2]African Union observers, however, were present.[3] Both the incumbent president,Umaro Sissoco Embaló, and opposition candidateFernando Dias da Costa claimed victory in the presidential election. The coup occurred while official results of the vote were yet to be released on 27 November.[4]
This is the ninth coup or attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau since it gained independence fromPortugal in 1974, with the last successful coup being in2012; the two most recent coup attempts, in2022 and2023, also targeted Embaló,[5] while there were also allegations of a coup plot at the end of October 2025.[6] The last coup attempt in 2023 prompted him to dissolve the Assembly and rule by decree, although he had been accused by critics of manufacturing crises as an excuse to crack down on the opposition.[7][8]
On 26 November 2025, the day before the expected official election result was to be announced,[1] gunfire was heard outside the presidential palace inBissau, with men in military uniform seen taking over the main road leading to the building.[4] Shooting was also heard at the interior ministry,[7] and at the National Electoral Commission,[9] forcing hundreds to flee the affected areas.[5] A spokesperson for President Embaló accused gunmen affiliated with Fernando Dias of attacking the electoral commission to prevent the release of the election results. Former prime minister and head ofPAIGC,Domingos Simoes Pereira, who supported Dias and was accompanying him in a meeting with election observers when news of the violence broke out, accused Embaló of trying to simulate a coup so that he could declare an emergency after determining that he had lost the election.[7][1]
Later that day, President Embaló toldJeune Afrique that he had been arrested without force at his office at 13:00GMT in a "coup d'état" led by the army chief of staff. Embaló was subsequently reported to have been detained at general-staff headquarters and was being "well-treated".[8] Several officials were also arrested, includingarmed forces chief of staff GeneralBiague Na Ntan, his deputy, GeneralMamadou Touré, and interior ministerBotche Candé.[9] Dias and Simoes Pereira were arrested as well.[10][1] An international election monitor also said the head of the electoral commission had been arrested, with the commission's headquarters also having been sealed off by the military.[11] Soldiers from the presidential guard and an elite gendarmerie unit secured the presidential palace.[12]
At the army headquarters, military officers, led by a spokesman and head of the military household at the presidential palace, GeneralDenis N'Canha,[13] issued a statement onstate television[11] announcing that they had taken "total control" over the country,[4] and ordered the suspension of all political institutions and media outlets,[11] the electoral process, the closure of international borders,[4] and an indefinite overnight curfew.[1] The officers announced the formation of the "High Military Command for the Restoration of Order" composed of all branches of the armed forces[14] that would lead the country until further notice and urged citizens to remain calm.[13] It was also reported that the army was trying to cut off the country's internet access.[1] N'Canha also said the coup had been launched in response to "the discovery of an ongoing plan" orchestrated by politicians and other domestic and foreign figures along with a "well-known drug lord" aimed at destabilizing the country by attempting to "manipulate electoral results."[11]
The government of Portugal, Guinea-Bissau'sformer colonial power, urged "all parties involved to refrain from any institutional or civic violence" and "to restore the regular functioning of institutions to allow the completion of the vote count and the announcement of the election results."[15][1]
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