The coup d’état, led by the military, took place three days after the presidential elections and one day before the results were announced, scheduled for this Thursday.
General Horta Nta Na Man was sworn in as transitional president of Guinea Bissau, the country’s army announced this Thursday in a statement, according to Reuters.
On Wednesday, Guinea-Bissau experienced a new coup d’état, with President Umaro Sissoco Embaló being deposed by a group of military personnel calling themselves the “Military High Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order”.
Embaló was arrested at around 12:00 local time (the same in mainland Portugal) at the presidential palace in Bissau, .
According to Embaló, the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Biague Na Ntan, the deputy chief of the General Staff, Mamadou Touré, and the Minister of the Interior, Botché Candé, were also arrested. Embaló guarantees that he was not the target of physical violence at the time of his arrest and points responsibility to the Army Chief of Staff.
Later, RFI reported that presidential candidate Fernando Dias da Costa, who claimed victory in last Sunday’s elections, had also been detained by the military this Wednesday, as well as Domingos Simões Pereira, leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).
However, on Wednesday night, Fernando Dias da Costa
In a statement on public television in Guinea-Bissau, the Military High Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order, through spokesperson Dinis N’Tchama, announced that “it will exercise State power from this date onwards”. In addition to moving towards suspending the Constitution and the electoral process, this military command also closed the borders and airspace and decreed a mandatory curfew across the country.
The coup d’état takes place three days after the presidential elections and one day before the results are announced, scheduled for this Thursday.
Embaló already claimed a significant victory, with 65% of the votes, based on polls. However, his main opponent, Fernando Dias da Costa, also claimed victory.
The elections took place in an apparently calm atmosphere, but without the participation of Domingos Simões Pereira, Embaló’s traditional main opponent, who was prevented from running. PAIGC, the party led by Domingos, then declared support for outsider Fernando Dias da Costa.
