Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
Reuters
—
Guinea-Bissau’s army put in Major-General Horta Nta Na Man as transitional president on Thursday, a military assertion stated, a day after troopers toppled President Umaro Sissoco Embalo in a swift energy seize that adopted a disputed election.
The president who was ousted in the coup, Umaro Sissoco
Embalo, arrived in Senegal aboard a particular flight following an
intervention by the West African regional bloc, Senegal’s
overseas ministry stated in an announcement late Thursday.
It was the ninth coup in West and Central Africa in 5
years and continued a sample of instability in Guinea-Bissau, a
infamous cocaine transport hub with an extended historical past of army
interventions in politics.
The self-styled “High Military Command for the Restoration of Order” introduced in a televised assertion on Wednesday that that they had ousted Embalo. They stated the transfer got here in response to a destabilisation plan involving politicians and drug barons, with out going into extra element.
Wearing a army uniform and flanked by different army
officers, Inta-a made his first public look as leader at
a ceremony broadcast Thursday on state tv. He stated the
coup was essential to stave off a plot by “narcotraffickers” to
“capture Guinean democracy” and stated the transition would final
one 12 months, starting instantly.
At a swearing-in ceremony afterward Thursday, he named
Major-General Tomas Djassi as military chief of employees.The takeover got here a day earlier than provisional outcomes had been as a result of be introduced in the race between Embalo and Fernando Dias, a 47-year-old political newcomer who had emerged as Embalo’s prime
challenger in the presidential vote.
Before the coup announcement, gunfire rang out in the
capital Bissau for about an hour on Wednesday close to the electoral
fee headquarters and presidential palace.
Embalo referred to as French media to say he had been deposed.
An military assertion dated Thursday and revealed earlier than
Senegal introduced Embalo’s evacuation, stated Embalo and different prime officers had been “under the control of the High Military Command”.
African Union chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf condemned the
coup in an announcement and referred to as for the discharge of Embalo “and
all detained officials.”
Heads of state from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS
additionally condemned the coup and later held a digital assembly to
focus on the scenario, based on a submit on X.
Screen grabs shared with the submit confirmed a number of regional
leaders taking part, together with the presidents of Nigeria,
Senegal and Liberia, as properly as the AU’s Youssouf.
The European Union stated constitutional order must be
restored and the vote depend allowed to proceed.
Central Bissau was principally quiet on Thursday, with troopers on the streets and plenty of residents staying indoors, even after the in a single day curfew lifted. Businesses and banks had been closed.
“I’m very concerned about the prevailing situation,” Julio Goncalves, a 30-year-old professor and Bissau resident, stated.
”No pharmacy is open. If anyone is sick how can he purchase drugs or go to the hospital?”
Before Inta-a’s presidency was introduced, Dias accused Embalo in a video assertion of staging a “false coup attempt” to derail the election as a result of he feared he would lose.
In an announcement to Reuters on Thursday, the coalition backing Dias demanded that authorities be allowed to launch outcomes from Sunday’s presidential election.
The coalition additionally referred to as for the discharge of former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, who was detained on Wednesday, based on kinfolk and safety sources.
Security forces used tear gasoline to interrupt up a small protest outdoors the constructing the place Pereira is alleged to be held. They additionally broke up a gathering close to Dias’s house on the outskirts of Bissau and reside rounds had been fired, witnesses stated.
There had been no studies of casualties associated to the violence on Wednesday or Thursday.
Guinea-Bissau is a small coastal nation located between Senegal and Guinea that could be a infamous transit level for cocaine sure for Europe. Under Embalo’s administration, the cocaine commerce appeared to increase.
Another coup is unlikely to alter that, stated Lucia Bird Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo, director of the Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa, which tracks the cocaine commerce.
“Major traffickers financed electoral campaigns in these elections. There is no sign the impact of cocaine on politics and governance in Bissau will decrease,” she stated.
The nation had been shaken by at the least 9 coups and tried coups between 1974, when it gained independence from Portugal, and 2020, when Embalo took workplace.
Election observers from the African Union and ECOWAS issued a joint assertion on Wednesday calling for the rapid launch of arrested election officers.
Nigerian former President Goodluck Jonathan, who had been observing the vote as half of the West African Elders Forum, was not reachable on Thursday and his whereabouts unknown, ECOWAS spokesperson Joel Ahofodji informed Reuters.
Nigeria’s overseas ministry stated the protection of election observers must be assured. “We warn that those behind this act will be held accountable for their actions,” an announcement stated.