Gunfire broke out near Guinea-Bissau’s presidential palace overnight and continued on Friday morning after soldiers freed a minister from the main opposition party detained for suspected misuse of public funds, as reported by Reuters. The gunfire started around 23H00 GMT, a few kilometers away from the presidential palace. There was also an exchange of fire in the neighborhood where an army general resides. The shooting occurred after heavily armed soldiers stormed a police station to free Finance Minister Suleimane Seidi, who was arrested earlier that night. Seidi, a member of the former ruling PAIGC party, was detained over alleged unauthorized disbursement of six million CFA francs from public coffers. The current whereabouts of the minister are unknown. Guinea-Bissau has a history of political instability with multiple coups since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974. Only one democratically elected president has completed a full term in the country. This incident adds to the ongoing political unrest in the region, which has witnessed several coups in the past three years. The shooting in Guinea-Bissau comes amid a series of attempted coups, as seen in Sierra Leone, where gunmen attacked military barracks, a prison, and other locations resulting in the release of around 2,200 inmates.