Guinea-Bissau national guard soldiers freed two government officials who had been questioned by police on Thursday night, before exchanging gunfire with special forces, according to military and intelligence sources.
Economy and Finance Minister Souleiman Seidi and Secretary of State for the Treasury Antonio Monteiro had been summoned by the judiciary on Thursday morning and taken into custody.
Police questioned the two officials for several hours about a withdrawal of $10 million from state coffers, according to the same sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Lawmakers had questioned Seidi about the withdrawal during National Assembly session on Monday.
Heavy gunfire
He claimed that the withdrawal was legal and intended to support the national private sector.
Members of the national guard took Seidi and Monteiro to an unknown location on Thursday night before seeking refuge in the barracks in the southern Santa Luzia district, the sources said.
Heavy gunfire was then heard by an AFP reporter near the barracks in the neighbourhood.
Special forces intervened after several unsuccessful attempts at mediation, with calm restored following an exchange of gunfire, the sources said.
Normalcy
Members of the Guinea-Bissau Stabilisation Support Force, deployed in the country by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), were seen patrolling the streets of Bissau on Friday morning, an AFP journalist reported.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, elected in December 2019, is currently in Dubai attending the 28th United Nations Climate Conference (COP28).
Embalo appointed two generals in September, Tomas Djassi and Horta Inta, as Head of Presidential Security and Chief of Staff respectively. The posts, provided for in the official organisation chart, had not been filled for several decades.
This reinforcement of presidential security comes at a time when coups or attempted coups are multiplying in West Africa, particularly in Gabon, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and, again this week, Sierra Leone.
