At least six people were killed in a failed attempt to overthrow Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, state radio said on Wednesday, as residents of the capital cautiously returned to daily life.
ilants and two members of the presidential guard, it said. Embalo had announced on Tuesday night that the situation was under control after gunfire rang out for more than five hours near a government compound where he was holding a cabinet meeting.
The West African country, which has a population of about two million, has now seen 10 coups or attempted coups since independence from Portugal in 1974. Only one democratically elected president has completed a full term.
It remains unclear who was behind the attack, which Embalo said was not only a failed coup but an assassination attempt.
In a video, the president suggested that not all units of the army were involved but that the attackers may have been linked to the drug trade.
Guinea-Bissau is known as a major transit point for Latin American cocaine headed for Europe, contributing to its perpetual instability.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) commission president Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said the army was responsible, adding in a Twitter post on Wednesday: “I welcome the failure of the military coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau, which was an attack on democracy and the people”.
The main road linking the city centre to the airport remained closed on Wednesday morning since it goes past the presidential palace, but banks and shops had reopened and people were venturing out, a Reuters reporter said.
US president orders nearly 3,000 troops to Eastern Europe to counter Russia
The United States will send nearly 3,000 extra troops to Poland and Romania to reinforce Eastern European NATO allies in the face of what Washington describes as a Russian threat to invade Ukraine, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
Russia, for its part, signalled it was in no mood for compromise by mocking Britain, calling Prime Minister Boris Johnson “utterly confused” and ridiculing British politicians for their “stupidity and ignorance”.
Moscow has massed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders. It denies any plan to invade its neighbour but says it could take unspecified military measures if its demands are not met, including a promise by NATO never to admit Kyiv. read more
A Stryker squadron of around 1,000 U.S. service members based in Vilseck, Germany would be sent to Romania, the Pentagon said, while around 1,700 service members, mainly from the 82nd Airborne Division, would deploy from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to Poland. Three hundred other service members will move from Fort Bragg to Germany.
The objective, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said, was to send a “strong signal” to President Vladimir Putin “and frankly, to the world, that NATO matters to the United States and it matters to our allies”.
“We know that he also bristles at NATO, about NATO. He’s made no secret of that. We are making it clear that we’re going to be prepared to defend our NATO allies if it comes to that. Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said in a tweet: “Strengthening the US presence in Poland by 1,700 troops is a strong signal of solidarity in response to possible Russian aggression against Ukraine.” read more
Efforts to reach a diplomatic solution have faltered in recent weeks, with Western countries describing Russia’s main demands as non-starters and Moscow showing no sign of withdrawing them.
Russia’s slurs aimed at Britain, which has staked out a tough position in recent weeks, were caustic even by the Kremlin’s increasingly confrontational standards.
Asked about plans for a phone call between Putin and Johnson, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “It makes sense to speak to anybody. Russia and President Putin are open to communicating with everyone. Even to someone who is utterly confused, he is prepared to provide exhaustive explanations.”
Johnson, who cancelled a call with Putin on Monday to answer questions in parliament about accusations his staff violated COVID-19 lockdown rules, visited Kyiv on Tuesday where he accused Russia of holding a gun to Ukraine’s head.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry mocked Johnson’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, for saying Britain was sending supplies to its “Baltic allies across the Black Sea” – two bodies of water that are on opposite sides of Europe.
“Mrs Truss, your knowledge of history is nothing compared to your knowledge of geography,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote in a blog post. “If anyone needs saving from anything, it’s the world, from the stupidity and ignorance of British politicians.”