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

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

General Horta N’Tam will be interim president for a period of one year. He was sworn in in a short, quiet session at army headquarters on Thursday.

N’Tam, who until the day before was head of the presidential guard, barely smiled as he was sworn in or stood surrounded by officers outside for the cameras.

Some civil society groups in Guinea-Bissau accused outgoing President Umaro Sissoco Embaló of plotting a “simulator coup” against him with the help of the military, saying it was a ruse to prevent the announcement of election results if he loses.

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

His closest election rival, Fernando Dias, also echoed these claims.

However, Embaló did not respond to the allegations.

He said he survived numerous coup attempts during his time in office. But his critics have previously accused him of fabricating the crisis to suppress dissent.

The military has already suspended the election process and prevented the announcement of Sunday’s presidential election results, which were expected on Thursday.

An unnamed military source told the AFP news agency that Embaló was being held by the army at its general staff headquarters, where he was “treated well”.

In response to news of the apparent coup, African Union (AU) president Mahmoud Ali Youssouf demanded “the immediate and unconditional release of President Embalo and all detained officials.”

He also reminded Guinea-Bissau’s leaders of “the obligation to respect the ongoing electoral process.”

The West African country, sandwiched between Senegal and Guinea, has been known as a drug trafficking center where the army is influential since its independence from Portugal in 1974.

Guinea-Bissau has witnessed at least nine coups or attempted coups in the last fifty years.

The most recent of these, on Wednesday, saw a group of military officials announce that they had taken control of the country. Government sources had previously told the BBC that Embaló had been arrested.

Gunshots were heard in the capital Bissau, but it is not yet clear who was involved in the incident or whether there was any loss of life.

Civil servants later appeared on state television and said they were suspending the election process.

They said they were acting to thwart a plan to destabilize the country by unnamed politicians “backed by a well-known drug lord” and closed their borders and imposed a night curfew.

Election results were expected on Thursday; both Embaló and his chief rival, Dias, declared victory.

Dias was supported by former Prime Minister Domingos Pereira, who was barred from running.

“I have been deposed,” Embaló told France 24 in a telephone interview late Wednesday afternoon.

Government sources later told the BBC that Dias, Pereira and Interior Minister Botché Candé were also detained.

The same sources said that the coup plotters also detained the Chief of General Staff, General Biague Na Ntan, and his deputy, General Mamadou Touré.

The leaders of the election observation missions of the African Union and the West African bloc Ecowas said in a joint statement that they were “deeply concerned about the announcement of a coup by the armed forces.”

They said the country was preparing to announce the election results after what they described as an “orderly and peaceful” process.

“It is regrettable that this announcement was made at a time when the delegations had just completed meetings with the two leading presidential candidates, who assured us that they were willing to accept the will of the people,” they said.

Portugal, the country’s former colonial ruler, called for a return to constitutional order, while the foreign ministry called on “all those involved to refrain from any act of institutional or civil violence.”

AFP news agency reported that Guinea-Bissau’s borders were reopened as of Thursday.

Embaló, 53, wanted to make history by becoming the country’s only president in the last 30 years to be elected for a second consecutive term.

He initially said he would not seek a second term. While his legitimacy was questioned before the postponed elections, the opposition said his term should officially end in February 2025.

Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a population of more than two million.

There are many uninhabited islands along its coastline, making it ideal for drug traffickers; The UN calls it a “narcotic state” because it is an important transit point for cocaine coming from Latin America to Europe.

Additional reporting by Richard Kagoe