Guinea-Bissau president flees to Senegal after coup
Guinea-Bissau’s deposed president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, has arrived in neighboring Senegal after his release by military forces who overthrew his government this week, Senegalese authorities said.
This follows negotiations by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS to secure its transfer amid growing tensions in Guinea-Bissau.
Senegal’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Embaló landed in the country “safe and sound” aboard a chartered military flight Thursday evening.
Guinea-Bissau’s army has already sworn in a new transitional leader, General Horta N’Tam, who will lead the coup-prone country for a year.
Wednesday’s coup took place a day before authorities announced provisional results of the presidential and parliamentary elections.
The army has already suspended the electoral process and blocked the publication of the results.
He said he was acting to thwart a plot by unnamed politicians who had the “backing of a well-known drug lord” to destabilize the country, and announced the closure of its borders and imposed a nighttime curfew.
Sandwiched between Senegal and Guinea, the coup-prone country is known as a notorious drug trafficking hub where the military has held influence since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974.
Embaló and his closest rival Fernando Dias claimed victory in Sunday’s presidential election.
Dias was supported by former Prime Minister Domingos Pereira, who had been disqualified.
Government sources earlier told the BBC that Dias, Pereira and Interior Minister Botché Candé had also been arrested.
The military junta banned public demonstrations and “any action disturbing peace and stability in the country.”
Tension remained high on Thursday in the capital, Bissau, with most shops and markets closed as soldiers patrolled the streets, the AFP news agency reported.
Earlier in the day, General N’Tam, chief of staff of the Guinea-Bissau army, was appointed new leader of the country for a period of one year.
General N’Tam said in a speech that the army had acted “to block operations aimed at threatening our democracy”.
Shortly after the swearing-in, the military reopened land, air and sea borders that were closed when the coup was announced.
The African Union (AU) and ECOWAS condemned the coup and called for respect for constitutional order.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” about the situation in Guinea-Bissau, calling for an “immediate and unconditional restoration of constitutional order.”
Guinea-Bissau has experienced at least nine coups or attempted coups over the past five decades.
Additional reporting by BBC’s Wycliffe Muia
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