The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said Thursday it will deploy troops to Guinea-Bissau to help stabilize the country following this week’s attempted coup.
The 15-nation regional grouping, which made the decision after a summit in the Ghanaian capital Accra on Thursday, did not give details of the strength of these forces and when they would be deployed.
ECOWAS deployed a similar mission in Guinea-Bissau from 2012 to 2020 after a coup to help prevent the military from interfering in politics and protect political leaders.
The government of Guinea-Bissau said the assailants who staged a failed coup attempt were aimed at assassinating the president and were part of a well-financed and well-planned conspiracy.
The government did not say who it believed was behind Tuesday’s attempt.
The government said 11 people were killed in the attack, including seven of the security forces who rescued Embalo and his prime minister from death.
In new details of these events, the government stated that unidentified armed men, dressed in civilian clothes, stormed a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, taking the participants by surprise.
“The modus operandi of the aggressors clearly indicates that the aim of this armed attack is to kill all officials present in the cabinet hall,” the statement said.
The statement added that one of the attackers, a member of a military police unit, and three civilians were killed in addition to the seven security personnel. The authorities are still searching for those behind the plot.
Embalo has previously said he does not believe the military was involved in this coup attempt.
This was the tenth of the operations and coup attempts that Guinea-Bissau has witnessed since its independence from Portugal in 1974.