Guinea-Bissau army says foiled plot to overthrow government

Guinea-Bissau's military chief announced Thursday that he had identified military personnel preparing a coup d'état to overthrow the constitutional order in the small West African country.

"We have managed to identify a group of FARP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People) soldiers who are mobilizing soldiers by buying their conscience against banknotes in order to subvert the established constitutional order," said General Biagué Na Ntan, Chief of General Staff of the Army, on the occasion of the ceremony to celebrate the 47th anniversary of the creation of the Military Police.

"It is the soldiers who received money who denounced the perpetrators of these despicable acts," added General Nan Ntan.

This announcement comes on the same day that President Umaru Sissoco Embalo left Bissau for a 48-hour working visit.

Guinea-Bissau is a former Portuguese colony that became independent in 1974 after a long war of liberation, led by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) founded by Amilcar Cabral, who was assassinated in 1973.

Since its independence, the country has experienced four coups, the last of which occurred in 2012. 

Guinea-Bissau has been the scene of sixteen coup attempts and numerous changes of government.