Calm Reported in Guinea-Bissau Capital After Possible Coup Attempt 
Shots reported in a compound where the president was holding a Cabinet meeting 
The capital of Guinea-Bissau appeared calm after an apparent coup attempt Tuesday. Banks and stores were closed after gunfire reportedly broke out in a compound where President Umaro Cissoko Embalo, a former army general, was reportedly holding the Cabinet meeting. It was not clear whether there were any injuries or fatalities. Also unclear was who was behind the apparent attempted coup, which Reuters characterized as "stalled." The Cabinet said Embalo would address the nation Tuesday night, Agence France-Presse reported. A regional bloc of 15 West African states, ECOWAS, called the violence a coup in a statement. "ECOWAS condemns this coup attempt and holds the military responsible for the bodily integrity of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and the members of his government," the statement said, in a tweet. Embalo was declared the winner of the 2020 elections, but the results have been contested by his opponent, Domingos Simoes Pereira. Embalo started to form a new government with the support of the military even while a supreme court challenge to the election was still ongoing. A United Nations spokesman said the secretary-general is "deeply concerned with the news of heavy fighting in Bissau" and asked for "an immediate end to the fighting and for full respect of the country's democratic institutions." The country of 1.5 million gained independence from Portugal in 1974 and has experienced four coups and more than 12 coup attempts since, The Associated Press reported. Since August 2020, military coups have occurred in the West African countries of Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.