“ECOWAS condemns the coup try and holds the army accountable for the bodily integrity of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and members of his authorities,” ECOWAS mentioned in a press release.
“ECOWAS asks the army to return to their barracks and keep a republican posture,” the assertion concluded.
The unrest in Guinea-Bissau comes after a army coup rocked Burkina Faso on January 24.
Mamadou Jao, a tutorial in Guinea Bissau, informed CNN that the streets had been quiet throughout the capital, as apprehensive residents stayed inside awaiting extra data.
“Bissau is quiet however we do not know what is occurring close to the federal government place… We are ready to know extra about what is occurring,” Jao mentioned.
Jao added that the ability was off in properties saying: “The place is in darkness for about three or 4 hours. It shouldn’t be one thing that occurs usually.”
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres additionally referred to as for an instantaneous finish to the preventing.
“The Secretary-General is deeply involved with the information of heavy preventing in Bissau,” mentioned a press release on Tuesday.
David Glovsky, assistant professor in Africana Studies on the University of Albany, informed CNN that since taking workplace in early 2020, Embalo “has confronted many challenges to his legitimacy, together with disputes over his election itself.”
“I doubt many Guineans are shocked by one other coup try, and but that is nonetheless so disappointing,” Glovsky mentioned, including: “Regardless of anybody’s emotions on President Embalo — and there’s a actual vary — Guineans have too usually been on the mercy of the army, and elite conflicts that don’t essentially deal with the considerations of Guineans throughout the nation.”
Guinea-Bissau’s historical past has been marked by a number of army coups for the reason that nation gained independence from Portugal in 1974.
These conflicts have ravaged the nation’s infrastructure and economic system, leaving it among the many poorest on the earth.