Government Overthrow: Coup in Guinea-Bissau

November 25, 2025
Finian Knepper

Note to our readers: This situation is still ongoing, and details are still unclear. Our report contains the most up-to-date information, but further reading is recommended.

A group calling itself “The High Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order” has seized power in Guinea-Bissau as of the afternoon of Wednesday, November 26th, 2025. The group is primarily composed of Army officials and personnel.

Early in the morning on Wednesday, gunfire was reported at the nation’s presidential palace. Hours later, at 1 PM on the 26th, Guinea-Bissau’s president, Sissco Embalo, was arrested by this group. This was immediately followed by soldiers in Guinea-Bissau announcing on state TV that they had overthrown the government and seized power in the country. The statement was read by Brigadier-General Denis N’Chana, head of the president’s military office. It also called for the populace to “remain calm”.

The group has immediately declared a form of Martial Law:
• All borders, both land and air, have been closed.
• All elections have been halted or voided.
• A strict curfew has been implemented.
• And checkpoints have been implemented.

Those additionally arrested include the former Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Na’ Natan, Deputy Chief of Staff General Mamadou Torue, and Interior Minister Botche Cande, as government sources told the BBC. All have been taken into custody. According to what military sources told AFP News, Embalo is being “well treated” and is being held at a military headquarters.

According to the Africa Report, the president himself said that no force was used against him, but journalists stationed in Guinea-Bissau to cover election results describe a rapidly deteriorating security situation:

“Gunfire at the National Electoral Commission (CNE) headquarters and areas around.”

“We are pinned in the office of the CNE communication officer.”

It is unclear if anyone else has been killed or injured during the coup.

According to a communique from coup high commanders, the coup was a reaction to a destabilization plot put in place by “certain national politicians with the participation of a well-known drug baron.” They also claimed: “This manoeuvre aims to prevent the publication of the electoral results scheduled for tomorrow, November 27th.”

Guinea-Bissau has been a known drug trafficking hub with substantial military influence since it declared independence from Portugal in 1974. Designated as a “narco-state” by the UN, its numerous uninhabited islands along its coast make it a key transit point for drug smugglers heading to Europe from Latin America. It is also one of the poorest countries in the world, and following its independence, it has undergone 9 successful or attempted coups.

Portugal’s State Department itself called for “all those involved to refrain from any act of institutional or civic violence” immediately following the coup.

The seizure of power immediately followed Guinea-Bissau’s presidential elections, which occurred on Sunday, November 23rd. By President Sissco Embalo’s own count, he had won his recent re-election bid with a majority vote. Both Embalo and his opposing candidate, Fernando Dias de Costa, have claimed the first-round victory in Guinea-Bissau’s presidential election, despite official results not being due until Thursday, November 27th. Embalo has previously told the press he wants to be the country’s only president to secure a consecutive win in 30 years, despite initially saying he would not seek a second term. Opposition groups have questioned his legitimacy, saying his term should have officially ended in February of 2025.

Embalo himself claims he has survived multiple coups while in office, but his critics allege he has fabricated these crises to crack down on dissent.

Embalo entered the race as the favorite, in no small part due to the country’s major opposition party, the PAIGC, or African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, and its leader, Domino Somoes Peria, being barred from participating. As such, the PAIGC threw its weight behind third-party candidate Fernando Dias de Costa—leading to him having a competitive performance with voters, and leading to the disputed election ahead of the electoral commission’s announcement. An electoral commission that has been, of course, cancelled by the coup leaders.

Domingoes Simones Pereia, the country’s opposition leader (barred from participating in the election), told news outlet Jeune Afrique that he was “in a meeting with African Union observers, including [former Nigerian President] Goodluck Jonathan, when someone came to tell us there was gunfire in the city center.” He said that, from what he was told, soldiers tried to force into the electoral commission’s offices and “to force its chairman to read out results naming Umario Sissco Embalo as the winner” even though “Fernando Dias, the candidate we back, won outright in the first round.”

According to sources obtained by The Africa Report, both Domingos Simões Pereira and Fernando Dias have been arrested by armed men and were taken to the capital’s air base.

The coup has been called by analysts from The Africa Report as years in the making. The president and the military hierarchy have long been regarded as the ultimate powers in Guinea-Bissau. Embalo’s efforts to consolidate power and pressure institutions to validate his claims have led to unrest among both the national political class and military commanders, which has apparently caused this forceful pushback from the military.

As of November 27th, Coup leaders have named a President: General HortaN'Tam, former head of the Presidential Guard, was sworn in as a temporary president for a term of one year.