ECOWAS 'unequivocally condemns' Guinea-Bissau coup
The west African region has been rife with coups in recent years, with Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea all seeing their governments toppled.
West African regional bloc ECOWAS on Thursday condemned a military takeover in Guinea-Bissau and called for the immediate release of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and other arrested officials.
ECOWAS chair Julius Maada Bio "unequivocally condemns the coup d'etat", which came as the country awaited the results of a presidential election, calling it a "grave violation of Guinea-Bissau's constitutional order" and warning it threatened regional stability, the bloc said in a statement.
A group of officers on Wednesday said they had seized "total control", suspending the electoral process as the country awaited the results of last Sunday's vote, which President Umaro Sissoco Embalo was expected to win.
Official provisional results had been expected on Thursday.
Coup announcement
In the early afternoon, General Denis N'Canha, head of the presidential military office, told journalists that a command "composed of all branches of the armed forces" was assuming control of the country "until further notice".
He claimed a plan had been uncovered to destabilise Guinea-Bissau involving "drug lords", which had included "the introduction of weapons into the country to alter the constitutional order".
In addition to halting "the entire electoral process", he said military forces had suspended "all media programming", closed "land, air, and sea" borders, and imposed a mandatory curfew.
According to a military source, the head of this "High Command for the Restoration of Order" is expected to be announced on Thursday.