Guinea-Bissau president says situation under control

A Twitter post from an unverified account in the name of Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said he was well and the situation in the West African country was under the government's control.

A post on Embalo's official Facebook account said calm had returned to the capital Bissau.

Hours earlier, gunfire was heard near a building where he had been hosting a cabinet meeting. The African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS denounced what they called an attempted coup.

His cabinet also announced that the Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo will address the nation from the government palace on Tuesday evening following reports of an attempted coup.