Guinea-Bissau's president dissolves parliament amid claim of failed coup

KIGALI, Rwanda

Guinea-Bissau's president dissolved the national parliament on Monday according to a decree.

The decision came days after Umaro Sissoco Embalo described last week’s clashes between army factions as an attempted coup.

In the decree, which was read to reporters by presidential advisor Fernando Delfim da Silva, Embalo cited “the seriousness” of last Friday’s events for the dissolution of the National Assembly.

“The date for holding the next legislative elections will be set in due time in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution,” it said.

It marked the second time within a period of less than two years that Embalo has dissolved the legislature.

In May 2022, the president dissolved parliament following a faceoff with the executive.

“I believe that parliament is always the focus of instability. We are not going to allow disorder,” he said.

Guinea-Bissau's opposition held an overall majority in the just dissolved parliament, which was elected in the middle of this year.

The majority party or coalition appoints the government under the current political dispensation, but the president retains the power to dismiss it under certain circumstances, which may lead to political paralysis.

Guinea-Bissau’s National Guard exchanged gunfire with special forces soldiers last week near military camps south of the capital Bissau while Embalo was in Dubai attending a UN climate conference.

The exchange of fire, which led to the death of two people, occurred after National Guard soldiers freed Guinea-Bissau’s Minister of Economy and Finance Souleiman Seidi and Secretary of State for the Treasury Antonio Monteiro, who had been held over the withdrawal of about $10 million from state coffers.