BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau – Mutinous soldiers fought their way into the fortified residence of Guinea-Bissau’s president in a three-hour gunbattle Sunday but did not hurt the head of state, a top official said.
The soldiers attacked President Joao Bernardo Vieira’s home shortly after midnight, killing at least one of his guards and injuring several others before security forces were able to push them back, Interior Minister Cipriano Cassama said. The attackers did not reach the room Vieira was hiding in and he was not hurt, Cassama said.
An Associated Press reporter heard heavy artillery fire and rocket-propelled grenades in the attack in a residential neighborhood of the capital. Dozens of security forces have surrounded the building. Inside, a reporter saw spent shell casings littering the floors, including in the president’s bedroom.
“It’s unacceptable that we should have another coup in this country,” said Cassama.
The government has issued no formal statement, but is planning an emergency meeting later Sunday, spokesman Fernando Mendonca said.
In a statement Sunday about Guinea-Bissau, African Union commission chairman Jean Ping said the AU rejects “any unconstitutional change of government and condemns in advance any attempt to seize power by force.”
The United Nations has said the impoverished nation of 1.5 million on Africa’s Atlantic coast is a key transit point for cocaine smuggled from Latin America to Europe.
A week ago, Guinea-Bissau held parliamentary elections amid opposition allegations that some politicians were being funded by drug money. Former President Kumba Yala — whose party lost seven seats in the 100-seat legislature while the governing party went from 45 seats to 67—— accused Vieira of being the country’s top drug trafficker.
Carlos Gomes Jr, a former prime minister who now heads the
ruling party, visited Vieira’s house and said, “It’s unacceptable in the 21st century to resolve our problems with violence.”
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