Guinea-Bissau sees off an attempted coup

FOR THE second time in just over a week heavy gunfire rang out from government buildings in a west African capital, this time in Guinea-Bissau’s. This coup attempt failed, unlike the earlier putsch in Burkina Faso. On February 1st President Umaro Sissoco Embaló declared he had faced down not just a coup, but “an attempt to kill the president, the prime minister and all the cabinet”. At least 11 people died in the firefight. Mr Embaló, a former army man, suggested the coup could “be related to people involved in drug-trafficking”, without elaborating.Although it is not yet clear how drug-smugglers may have been involved, the idea that they may have tried to overthrow the government is not as far fetched as it sounds. People linked to the trade have done so several times in the past in order to control or protect a cocaine route linking South America to Europe. It is run with the connivance of army officers and politicians. The trade started in the mid-2000s after João Bernardo “Nino” Vieira won a well-funded campaign for president. But he then seems to have fallen out with the cartels. In 2009 the army chief was blown up in his headquarters and hours later Vieira was gunned down by soldiers.