Regional leaders condemn coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau

Soldiers in Guinea-Bissau attacked the residence of former Prime Minister and presidential election front-runner Carlos Gomes Junior yesterday in what regional ministers condemned as an attempted coup in the small West African state. The target of last night’s attack was the residence of outgoing Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, who is running for the presidency. Gomes Junior won close to an outright majority in last month's first round of voting in the former Portuguese colony; a second-round run-off had been set for the end of the month. The whereabouts of Gomes Junior after the attack were not immediately known.

Ivorian Foreign Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan said other countries in the region condemned the attempted coup: “As it was the case for Mali, ECOWAS formally and rigorously condemns such an attempted coup d’état. The Malian and Bissau-Guinean crises which cause trouble to democracy, for which people express their fundamental right, and risk their lives every day to save this noble cause, speak to us deeply just one year after the one happening in Ivory Coast.” Duncan was speaking at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the West African regional grouping ECOWAS, who were meeting in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to discuss last month’s coup in nearby Mali.

Also in Abidjan, Guinea-Bissau Foreign Minister Mamadu Djalo Pires said soldiers continued to occupy the streets of Bissau. He called for an "energetic reaction" from the international community against what he called "a coup d'état."

Listen to Christopher Wells’ report: