(Reuters) -Army officers in Guinea-Bissau said on Wednesday they had toppled President Umaro Sissoco Embalo after disputed elections, the latest coup in the West African nation long plagued by instability and drug trafficking.
Here is a timeline of Guinea-Bissau’s coups and attempted coups:
NOVEMBER 1980 – FIRST COUP
Prime Minister Joao Bernardo Vieira ousted President Luis Cabral in a bloodless coup. In 1985, several senior military officers, along with the first vice president, were arrested for an alleged coup attempt against Vieira. Six were executed in 1986, while several others died in detention.
In June 1998, a failed coup attempt triggered a civil war after Vieira dismissed Brigadier-General Ansumane Mane from his position as chief of staff.
MAY 1999 – VIEIRA OVERTHROWN
General Ansumane Mane led a military revolt, forcing Vieira to resign after a year-long civil war.
SEPTEMBER 2003 – YALA DEPOSED
In 2003, Kumba Yala was elected president following two interim leaderships after Vieira. He faced a turbulent relationship with General Mane, resulting in clashes during one of which Mane was killed.
Yala was later ousted in a bloodless coup in September 2003. In 2004, General Verissimo Correia Seabra, the military leader behind the coup, was killed during an army revolt.
Henrique Rosa assumed interim leadership until 2005, when Vieira returned to power after a runoff in the presidential election.
MARCH 2009 – VIEIRA ASSASSINATED
After surviving at least two coup attempts and army revolts, Vieira was shot dead on March 2, 2009 by a group of soldiers allegedly loyal to his main rival, army chief of staff General Batista Tagme Na Waie, who had been killed in a bomb blast the previous day.
Following Vieira’s assassination, Raimundo Pereira assumed interim leadership until Malam Bacai Sanha was elected in September. Sanha died from illness in January 2012 before completing his term.
APRIL 2012 – ARMY SEIZES POWER
Soldiers seized power between rounds of a presidential election, detaining interim President Raimundo Pereira, election front-runner Carlos Gomes Junior and his challenger Kumba Yala.
FEBRUARY 2022 – FAILED COUP ATTEMPT
Gunmen attacked the presidential palace during a cabinet meeting. President Umaro Sissoco Embalo survived. The government said it was coup attempt linked to drug trafficking.
DECEMBER 2023 – COUP ATTEMPT
Embalo dissolved parliament after alleging a coup plot and gunfire near the National Assembly. Critics accused him of using instability to tighten control. Embalo has claimed to have survived three coup attempts during his first term in office.
OCTOBER 2025 – PLOT FOILED
Army announced the arrest of officers accused of planning to subvert constitutional order.
NOVEMBER 2025 – LATEST COUP
Army officers, referring to themselves as “The High Military Command for the Restoration of Order”, said in a televised statement on November 26 that they had ousted Embalo, a day before presidential election results were to be announced.
(Compiled by Bate FelixEditing by Ros Russell)
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