Military officers in Guinea-Bissau announced Wednesday they were taking “total control” of the country while suspending its electoral process and closing its borders, three days after the poverty-stricken West African nation’s legislative and presidential elections.

Earlier in the day gunfire was heard near the coup-prone country’s presidential palace as men in military uniform took over the main road leading to the building.

Military personnel made the announcement by reading a statement at army headquarters in the capital, Bissau, AFP journalists observed on the scene.