Guinea-Bissau army general named president a day after apparent coup

An army general has been sworn in as Guinea-Bissau’s new head of state, a day after an apparent coup.

General Horta N’Tam became transitional president for a period of one year. He took oath in a brief and silent ceremony at the Army Headquarters on Thursday.

The military had already suspended the electoral process and blocked the release of results from Sunday’s presidential election, which were expected on Thursday.

Some civil society groups in Guinea-Bissau have accused outgoing President Umaro Sissoko Embalou of plotting a “fake coup” against him with the help of the military, saying it was a ploy to prevent election results from being declared if he were to lose.

“The aim of this maneuver is to prevent the publication of the election results scheduled for tomorrow, November 27,” the civil society coalition Popular Front said in a statement on Wednesday.

The President has not responded to the allegations.

He has said that he has survived several coup attempts during his tenure. However, his critics have previously accused him of fabricating the crisis to crush dissent.

Located between Senegal and Guinea, the West African country is known as a notorious drug-trafficking hub, where the military has been influential since independence from Portugal in 1974.

Guinea-Bissau has seen at least nine coups or attempted coups over the past five decades.

In the latest of these, on Wednesday, a group of military officers announced that they had taken control of the country after reports that President Embalo had been arrested.

Gunshots were heard in the capital, Bissau, but it was not immediately clear who was involved in the shooting or whether there were any casualties.

Officials then appeared on state TV saying that they had suspended the electoral process.

They said they were working to thwart a plot by unidentified politicians who were “backed by a well-known drug baron” to destabilize the country, and announced the closure of their borders and imposed a night-time curfew.

Election results were expected on Thursday – defeating both Embalho and his nearest rival Fernando Dias. Claimed victory.

Dias was supported by former Prime Minister Domingos Pereira, who was declared ineligible to contest the election.

Embalho told FRANCE 24 in a phone call on Wednesday afternoon: “I have been deposed.”

Government sources later told the BBC that Dias, Perera and Interior Minister Boche Cande were also detained.

The same sources said the rebels had also detained army chief General Biyagu Natan and his deputy, General Mamadou Toure.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the election observation mission of the African Union and the West African bloc ECOWAS expressed “deep concern at the announcement of the coup by the armed forces”.

He said the country was ready for the announcement of the election results, which he described as an “orderly and peaceful” process.

He said, “It is regrettable that this announcement came at a time when the missions had just completed meetings with the two leading presidential candidates, who assured us of their willingness to accept the will of the people.”

Portugal, the country’s former colonial ruler, has called for a return to constitutional order, with its Foreign Ministry “urging all those involved to desist from any acts of institutional or civil violence”.

As of Thursday, the AFP news agency reported that Guinea-Bissau’s borders had reopened.

Embalo, 53, wanted to make history as the country’s only president in the last 30 years to win a second consecutive mandate.

He initially said he would not seek a second term. Before the delayed elections, his legitimacy was questioned, with the opposition saying his term should have officially ended in February 2025.

Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest countries in the world with a population of just over two million people.

Its coastline contains many uninhabited islands, making it ideal for drug smugglers – the United Nations has dubbed it a “narco-state” because it has been a major transit point for cocaine coming from Latin America to Europe.

Additional reporting by Richard Kago