President of Guinea Bissau says drug dealers were behind attempted coup in Guinea Bissau

 

At the start of the month, it seemed like Guinea-Bissau was on the brink of fall victim to what has been referred to as West Africa’s coup epidemic, however some ar currently distrustful the official version of events.

Having seen over a dozen coups or tried coups since independence in 1974, and being employed as a passage for drug traffic, news from Guinea-Bissau that folks were attempting to unseat President Umaro Sissoco Embaló fitted a pattern of instability.

Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso had all recently succumbed to military takeovers and on one Feb armed men shot their manner into the govt. palace within the capital, Bissau.

The 49-year-old president and therefore the cupboard were within the compound having a gathering.

But once 5 hours of fighting, that left eleven dead, man Embaló aforesaid it absolutely was everywhere associated connected what he referred to as an tried takeover to the smuggled medicine trade.

Speaking once more in the week he named 3 men United Nations agency had antecedently been in remission by the United States of America for try|attempting} to ship hard drug as being behind the coup attempt.

One of them was the previous head of the navy, José Américo Bubo Na Tchuto, and therefore the president aforesaid that he had seen the opposite 2 himself as he was attempting to cover from the attackers.

The 3 have since been in remission and haven’t commented on the accusations.

Talking with confidence and in a very relaxed tone, the president told journalists on weekday that he survived a trial on his life as a result of his religion in God.

The possibility that narcotics had one thing to try to to with the attack rests on Guinea-Bissau’s name that it’s become a transit purpose for medicine coming back from geographical area on their thanks to Europe.

The international organization and therefore the United States of America have within the past delineated the country of 2 million individuals as a “narco-state” wherever politicians were funded by criminals and networks at intervals the govt. were established to guard the smuggled trade.

In 2019, man Embaló won controversial elections and secure that there would be a “zero-tolerance” angle to drug traffic.

His backers say he has created conditions for the police to be able to fight against the trade however it’s not clear if it’s created any distinction.

“Some of these antecedently concerned in it appear to own created a comeback,” says Lucia Bird of the world Initiative Against international gangland.

‘We ar at peace’

But on the far side the walls of the govt. buildings, queries ar being raised.

In a store within the centre of national capital, one client told ME with certainty that he doesn’t believe there was a coup try.
“Everything is calm. we tend to ar gone in national capital,” he insisted. “Nothing happened. go searching you.”

Nevertheless, despite a scarcity of a significant military presence, things are tense and one missy aforesaid that it absolutely was just like the country “was going backwards”.

The president’s main political opponent, former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, United Nations agency leads the country’s largest organization, has in public questioned his version of events.

“How are you able to tell ME there was shooting for 5 hours and no military forces came to assist the cabinet? this is often strange,”

“The voters of Guinea-Bissau wish to grasp what’s very behind this alleged coup try. United Nations agency were the folks that allotted this coup? what percentage were there? United Nations agency was in command of them? What were their real goals?”

The president has up to now didn’t give full answers to those queries however has launched a politician inquiry. On weekday he emphatic that “the hands holding the guns ar individuals with links to the large drug cartel”.

‘Orchestrated attack’

When asked regarding whether or not he still believed he had the army’s backing once it appeared slow to come back to his aid, he aforesaid he did, however more that the foremost necessary issue was that he believed in God.

There is another theory argue by political analyst Rui Landim, that may make a case for the president’s survival and why the military appeared reluctant to assist.

He told the BBC that he thought man Embaló might have staged the coup so as to influence the West Africa regional cluster Ecowas “to send troops to take care of him in power”

Differences between the president and each the prime minister and parliament have left him in a very weakened position.

But the president has aforesaid that the pledge by Ecowas to send troops was associate act of regional commonality.

Amid the uncertainty regarding what very happened virtually a period of time past there ar some here United Nations agency stay nervous.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack some fled to the country and that they haven’t nevertheless all came.