It is a hard blow for Bissau, the two main figures of the opposition have been arrested and taken to the military air base, while the country recovers little by little from a day of violence and uncertainties. A seizure of power which takes place on the eve of the results of the presidential and legislative elections organised on Sunday 23 November. Tensions in Guinea-Bissau reached a new high on the afternoon of Wednesday 26 November 2025. A few hours after the announcement of the seizure of power by the military High Command and the “arrest” of the outgoing president Umaro Sissoco Embaló, two great figures of the national political scene, Domingos Simões Pereira, patron of the PAIGC and Fernando Días Da Costa who was the head of the outgoing president during this election, were arrested. The two men, direct adversaries of Embaló, were now detained at the Bissau Air Force Base. In the afternoon, several local sources confirmed their arrest, while a strong presence of the Presidential Guard was observed around the strategic axes leading to the Palais de la République. Despite these military movements, the situation is “relatively calm” in the streets, even if the capital remains under high military surveillance.
Guinea-Bissau: Domingos Simões Pereira and Fernando Días arrested by members of the BIP
