Coup in Guinea-Bissau + Concern over Guinea-Bissau 'coup'

Explosions have been heard in the capital of the small, coup-prone nation of Guinea-Bissau as the military sealed off the city’s downtown area and lobbed grenades at the prime minister’s home, according to a diplomat and witnesses.

ECOWAS has however, said it “formally condemns any attempt at a coup d’etat,” according to Daniel Kablan Duncan, president of the body’s Council on Mediation and Security.

The violence comes just weeks before the country’s presidential runoff vote, which Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr. was favored to win. There have been fears of a coup ever since Guinea-Bissau’s

president died of complications from diabetes in January, leaving an interim leader in charge of the chronically unstable country known for cocaine trafficking.

The shooting started on Thursday after the state radio station signal inexplicably went dead. The whereabouts of the interim president, Raimundo Pereira, were unknown. A military official, who like the diplomat requested anonymity, said the soldiers had encircled Gomes's home and were attacking the building with grenades. It was not clear if Gomes was at home when the shooting started.

Guinea-Bissau has weathered successive coups, attempted coups and a civil war since winning independence from Portugal in 1974. It has been further destabilized by a growing cocaine trade, fueled by traffickers from Latin America who discovered the nation’s archipelago of uninhabited islands several years ago. They used the deserted islands to land small, twin-engine planes loaded with drugs, which are then parceled out and carried north for sale in Europe.

 

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