Regional leaders have intervened to secure Umaro Sissoco Embalo’s release following his arrest by the military on Wednesday
Guinea-Bissau’s deposed president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, has fled to neighboring Senegal after the army seized power following a disputed election, officials have said.
Embalo arrived in Dakar on Thursday on a chartered flight arranged by leaders of the West African regional bloc – ECOWAS – who intervened to secure his release from detention, Senegal’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The move came a day after Bissau-Guinean soldiers said they removed the president and took control of the country ahead of the announcement of the results of the general election held on Sunday. They suspended the electoral process, arrested Embalo and other top officials, and closed the border, which was later reopened on Thursday.
The military declared the formation of a new government called the High Military Command for the Restoration of Order, and swore in army chief General Horta Nta Na Man as transitional leader for a one-year period.
Embalo first came to power in 2020 and sought a second term in the November 23 election. He and his main challenger, Fernando Dias da Costa, both claimed victory before the provisional results were due for release, fueling tensions in a country which has a long history of coups. The former Portuguese colony of around 2 million people has seen a number of coups and attempted coups since independence in 1974, and is widely described as a hub for cocaine trafficking in Europe.
The military accused the presidency of a plot to manipulate the vote with the involvement of a “well-known drug lord” and foreign actors.
The new leadership has banned public protests following opposition calls for demonstrations and the publication of the official results. The opposition had claimed that Embalo staged or provoked the crisis to cling to power.
The African Union has condemned the coup and demanded respect for constitutional order. ECOWAS issued a statement after a virtual meeting of heads of state and rejected “any arrangements that perpetuate the illegal abortion of the democratic process” in Guinea-Bissau.
In a statement late Thursday, ECOWAS said it will suspend Guinea-Bissau “until the restoration of full and effective constitutional order in the country.”
