Soldiers took control of the main road leading to Guinea-Bissau’s presidential palace on Wednesday after heavy gunshots rang out, as the poverty-stricken West African country awaits results of a vote claimed by both major presidential candidates.

The soldiers, drawn from the presidential guard and an elite gendarmerie unit, controlled the deserted area as calm returned and shooting ceased for the time being, AFP journalists on the scene observed.

Hundreds of people on foot and in vehicles had fled seeking shelter as the shots rang out.

The whereabouts of incumbent president Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was favoured to win re-election, was not immediately known midday Wednesday.

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Both Embalo and opposition candidate Fernando Dias have already declared victory in the race, which until Wednesday had passed off peacefully.

Official provisional vote results are expected Thursday in the tumultuous west African country, which has experienced four coups since independence, as well as multiple attempted coups.

A passerby fleeing from the chaotic scene told AFP that “we’re used to it in Bissau”.

Guinea-Bissau is among the world’s poorest countries and is also a hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, a trade facilitated by the country’s long history of political instability.

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– Victory claims –

Both candidates had already declared victory with little proof to support their claims.

“There won’t be a second round,” Embalo’s campaign spokesperson Oscar Barbosa told AFP on Tuesday, adding that the president “will have a second mandate”.

Dias also declared victory, saying in a video posted to social media: “This election has been won, it has been won in the first round.”

Guinea-Bissau’s last presidential vote in 2019 was marked by a four-month post-election crisis as both main candidates claimed victory.

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The election had pitted Embalo against Domingos Simoes Pereira, the candidate from the country’s main opposition party PAIGC, which secured Guinea-Bissau’s independence from Portugal in 1974.

The country’s 2025 election notably excluded PAIGC and Pereira, who were struck from the final list of candidates and parties by the Supreme Court, which said they had filed their official applications too late.

In 2023, Embalo dissolved the legislature — which was dominated by the opposition — and has since ruled by decree.

The opposition says PAIGC’s exclusion from the presidential and parliamentary elections amounts to “manipulation” and maintains that Embalo’s term expired on February 27, five years to the day after his inauguration.

More than 6,780 security forces, including from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Stabilisation Force, were deployed for the vote and the post-election period.

The Government of Canada has issued a new advisory urging citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Nigeria, including the capital city, Abuja, citing an increasingly unpredictable security environment marked by terrorism, crime, armed attacks, and kidnappings.

The Canadian government dropped one of its biggest travel‑risk updates in years, warning citizens to steer clear of 17 African countries because of spiraling insecurity, political turmoil and extremist violence.

Canadian officials point to a perfect storm of threats: expanding extremist networks in the Sahel and Horn of Africa, a wave of military coups, communal clashes, mass protests, cross‑border crime, and fragile governance that leaves many states barely holding together.

On the ‘Avoid All Travel’ hot spots destinations are: South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Libya, Mali, Niger, Somalia and Sudan while the ‘Avoid Non‑Essential Travel’ list includes Madagascar, Ethiopia, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Mauritania, Nigeria and Tanzania.

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The advisory, released yesterday, highlights that while the entire country faces elevated risks, certain regions are considered so dangerous that Canadians are urged to avoid all travel.

The only exceptions to the broader warning are the cities of Lagos and Calabar, where travellers are advised to exercise a high degree of caution rather than avoid travel altogether.

According to the travel advice, wide swaths of northern and central Nigeria are experiencing sustained instability driven by extremist violence, banditry, and inter-communal clashes.

The government specifically names the northwestern states of Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara; the northcentral states of Plateau, Niger and Kogi; and much of the northeast, including Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Taraba and Yobe.

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According to the travel advice, the Niger Delta region also remains volatile. Canada advises avoiding all travel to Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Enugu, Imo and Rivers states, though it stops short of a blanket ban on Port Harcourt itself, recommending instead that travellers avoid non-essential trips there.

Canada’s updated advisory places Nigeria among the most high-risk destinations for Canadians worldwide. The government urges anyone currently in the country to remain vigilant, limit movement, and monitor local media for developing threats.

The agency launched its 2025 World AIDS Day report, Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response, on Tuesday, warning that the global HIV response is experiencing its most significant setback in decades.

In its report, UNAIDS highlighted widespread disruption to HIV prevention, testing, and community-led programmes.

The agency noted that across 13 countries, the number of people newly initiated on treatment has also declined.

“Nigeria recorded a 55 per cent drop in condom distribution,” the report stated. The agency also drew attention to the effect on women in sub-Saharan Africa, noting that approximately 450,000 women have lost access to “mother mentors,” community workers who support their connection to care.

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Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said the decline is linked to abrupt funding cuts and a worsening human rights environment.

Speaking from Geneva, she said, “The funding crisis has exposed the fragility of the progress we fought so hard to achieve. Behind every data point in this report are people. Babies missed for HIV screening, young women cut off from prevention support, and communities suddenly left without services and care. We cannot abandon them.”

UNAIDS stressed the particular vulnerability of adolescent girls and young women, who were already severely affected prior to the crisis, with an estimated 570 new HIV infections occurring daily among females aged 15 to 24.

“This is our moment to choose,” Byanyima said. “We can allow these shocks to undo decades of hard-won gains, or we can unite behind the shared vision of ending AIDS. Millions of lives depend on the choices we make today.”

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The report indicated that dismantled prevention programmes have increased risk for young women and that community-led organisations, essential to HIV outreach, are under severe pressure.

More than 60 per cent of women-led organisations reported having to suspend essential services. UNAIDS modelling suggests that continued disruption could result in an additional 3.3 million new HIV infections between 2025 and 2030.

The agency warned that international assistance has declined sharply, with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development projections indicating external health funding may drop by 30 to 40 per cent in 2025 compared with 2023.

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“The impact has been immediate and severe, especially in low- and middle-income countries highly affected by HIV,” the report noted.

UNAIDS urged world leaders to maintain and increase HIV funding, particularly for countries reliant on external support, while investing in innovations such as affordable long-acting prevention.

The agency noted the importance of upholding human rights and empowering communities as central to an effective response to HIV.