A group of military officers claimed “total control” of the country, a day after the two leading candidates declared victory in a tightly contested presidential election.
Guinea-Bissau’s military has appointed a general as the country’s new leader for a year, a day after staging a coup to seize power and arresting the West African nation’s president as disputed election results loomed.
“I have just been sworn in to lead the High Command,” Gen. Horta Nta Na Mann announced after taking the oath of office at a ceremony at army headquarters on Thursday. AFP journalists said.
Dozens of heavily armed soldiers were deployed at the scene.
On Wednesday, a group of military officers claimed “total control” of the country, a day after the two leading candidates declared victory in a tightly contested presidential election.
Calling themselves the “High Military Command for the Restoration of Order”, authorities read a statement on television, announcing that they had ordered the immediate suspension of the electoral process “until further notice”.
He ousted President Oumareau Sissoko Embalo in the latest incident of unrest in a coup-threatening country.
Provisional results were expected to be announced in the race between Emballo and Fernando Dias, a political newcomer who had emerged as Emballo’s top challenger to run the country, which is a center of cocaine trafficking.
The capital, Bissau, was mostly quiet on Thursday, with soldiers patrolling the streets and many residents remaining indoors even after the lifting of an overnight curfew. Businesses and banks remained closed.
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