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Colonel Vitor Tchongo, commander of the National Guard, along with other members of the unit, was arrested Friday morning by the military police.
On Monday, according to a presidential decree, President Umaro Sissoco Embalo dissolved the Guinea-Bissau Parliament after meeting with the Council of State, the president's advisory body.
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According to the decree, an attack by a heavily armed National Guard group on the judicial police building in the capital Bissau last week aimed to "subvert the constitutional order" and resulted in a tragic loss of life.
According to official reports, clashes erupted between elements of the National Guard and special forces of the Presidential Guard in Bissau on Thursday night and continued on Friday as a group of National Guard soldiers attempted to free a detained minister from the judicial police building.
Colonel Vitor Tchongo, the National Guard commander, along with several others from the unit, was arrested on Friday morning by the military police.
COUP SCARE: Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embaló has issued a decree dissolving parliament after saying that he had survived an attempted coup last week. pic.twitter.com/QG4iXUE3mx
— The African Times USA (@africantimesusa) December 4, 2023
Embalo said on Saturday that the deadly violence in the capital was an "attempted coup" with "serious consequences for all those involved," upon his return from Dubai, where he attended a UN climate conference.
This marked the second instance of Embalo dissolving Guinea-Bissau's parliament since assuming office in 2020. Earlier, in May 2022, he dissolved the parliament due to tensions between the legislative body and the presidency.
In February 2022, Guinea-Bissau's army members staged a failed coup against Embalo.
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