A coalition of African Union and ECOWAS observers has condemned the military takeover and urged the army to free top officials
Guinea-Bissau’s military has appointed a general as the country’s transitional leader following the ouster of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo in a coup that regional leaders have denounced as a “blatant” bid to derail democracy.
On Wednesday, army officers declared they had seized “total control” of the West African nation, suspended all state institutions, and closed the borders on the eve of the electoral commission’s planned release of results from Sunday’s disputed election.
“I have just been sworn in to lead the High Command,” General Horta Nta Na Man said after taking the oath of office in a ceremony at the military’s headquarters on Thursday, AFP reported.
A coalition of observers from the African Union (AU), the regional ECOWAS bloc, and the West African Elders Forum said on Wednesday that the elections concluded in an “orderly and peaceful” manner, noting that both leading presidential candidates had pledged to accept the outcome.
“We deplore this blatant attempt to disrupt the democratic process and the gains that have been achieved thus far,” the mission chiefs said in a joint statement late Wednesday. They condemned the arrest of senior officials, including those overseeing the vote, and urged their immediate release so the electoral process can resume.
Embalo, in power since 2020, was seeking a rare second consecutive term after dissolving parliament twice and postponing elections originally due in 2024, moves that fueled accusations of democratic backsliding and a term-limit dispute. The main opposition, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, led by Simoes Pereira, was barred from the race, forcing it to back Embalo’s main challenger, Fernando Dias.
Both Embalo and Dias had earlier claimed victory. Embalo later told French media he had been arrested by the army chief of staff, while Dias and Pereira were also reportedly detained.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “deep concern” about the situation and appealed to all parties to exercise restraint, according to his spokesperson.
Vsevolod Sviridov, an expert at the Center for African Studies at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, told RT that the Guinea-Bissau crisis “might risk further disintegration of West Africa, as ECOWAS is already in a crisis of legitimacy” following the exit of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
