By Alberto Dabo

BISSAU, (Reuters) -Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sisoco Embalo survived a attempted coup on Tuesday. However, Embalo said many members the security forces were killed resisting an attack on democracy that could have been connected to drug trafficking.

A few hours earlier, gunfire was heard near the compound of Embalo who had just presided over a cabinet meeting. The circumstances were unclear for hours. During this time, the African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS condemn what they call “an attempt coup”.

Fast-moving developments in the ex-Portuguese colony along the West African coast occurred just over a week following the deposed president of Burkina Faso (another country in that region).

Embalo, who appeared in an evening video uploaded to the Facebook page of the Guinea Bissau presidency (NASDAQ:), claimed that attackers tried to enter the compound shortly after the cabinet meeting. However, they were repelled.

“It was not a coup. He said that it was an attempt at killing the president, prime minister, and the entire cabinet.

He said that the attackers were well organized and prepared, but did not give any further details.

The United Nations views poverty-stricken Guinea Bissau as an important route for Latin American cocaine heading for Europe. U.S. authorities and European officials have suspected for years that certain members of the military in Guinea-Bissau are involved in drug trafficking.

Embalo had received strong support from military personnel during an earlier political crisis and suggested that Tuesday’s attack was not carried out by the army in his video.

“I am confident that this coup attempt was not supported by any other camp. It was an isolated incident. “It is connected to people that we have fought for,” he stated, without going into detail.

He stated arrests had been made of the people in question, but did not know how many.

‘COUP CONTAGION’

Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa claimed on his official site that he had called Embalo and expressed his “vehement condemnation” of the attacks on Guinea Bissau’s constitution.

Before Embalo’s Embalo video, some African Union members had claimed they were being held and called for the military to free them. However, this was before Embalo made the video.

Guinea-Bissau has been plagued by political instability for many decades. Since 1974 independence, there have been nine attempted or actual coups.

In the confusion of Tuesday’s hours, the Portuguese Embassy had advised its citizens in Guinea Bissau to return home. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated that he was concerned about what was happening in Bissau.

Embalo was about to begin a special cabinet meeting, and he entered the government palace along with a security detail. Gunfire broke out outside the building while Embalo was still present.

This cabinet meeting was held in preparation for a forthcoming ECOWAS Summit in reaction to the military coup in Burkina Faso last week. It is the latest of a series of coups in the region over the past 18 months.

Eric Humphrey Smith, analyst at Verisk (NASDAQ) Maplecroft stated that it is becoming increasingly difficult to refute the notion of coup contagion.

“When you add to the successful coups in Mali Burkina Faso and Guinea in the last year, it is clear that West African leaders are looking closely at their shoulders.