Guinea-Bissau army general appointed president one day after apparent coup

An army general has been sworn in as Guinea-Bissau’s new head of state, a day after an apparent coup.

General Horta Ntam becomes transitional president for a one-year term. He was sworn in Thursday at Army headquarters in a brief and quiet ceremony.

The military has suspended the electoral process and prevented the results of Sunday’s presidential election from being announced on Thursday.

Some civil society groups in Guinea-Bissau have accused outgoing President Umaro Sissoko Embalo of orchestrating a “mock coup” against him with the help of the military, saying it was a ruse to prevent election results from being announced in case he loses.

“This move is aimed at preventing the announcement of the results of the election scheduled for tomorrow (November 27),” the civil society coalition Popular Front said in a statement on Wednesday.

The president has yet to respond to the accusations.

He said he had survived several coups during his time in office. However, his critics have previously accused him of fabricating the crisis to suppress dissent.

The West African country, sandwiched between Senegal and Guinea, is known as a notorious drug trafficking hub and its military has been influential since independence from Portugal in 1974.

Guinea-Bissau has seen at least nine coups or attempted coups in the past five years.

The latest of these came on Wednesday, when a group of military officers announced they had taken control of the country following reports of President Embalo’s arrest.

Gunshots were heard in the capital Bissau, but it was unclear who was involved or whether there were any casualties.

The officials later appeared on state television to say they had suspended the electoral process.

They said they were acting to thwart a plot by unnamed politicians “backed by known drug lords” to destabilize the country and announced border closures and a night-time curfew.

The election results are expected to be announced on Thursday – both Embalo and his closest rival Fernando Díaz have Declare victory.

Díaz is backed by former Prime Minister Domingos Pereira, who has been disqualified from running.

“I have been deposed,” Emballo told France 24 by phone late Wednesday afternoon.

Government sources later told the BBC that Dias, Pereira and Interior Minister Boche Cande were also detained.

The same source said the putschists also detained army chief of staff General Biague Na Ntan and his deputy, General Mamadou Touré.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the African Union and Economic Community of West African States election observation missions expressed “deep concern” at the coup announcement by the armed forces.

They said the country was ready to announce the election results after an “orderly and peaceful” process.

“It is regrettable that this announcement comes at a time when the delegation has just concluded meetings with the two leading presidential candidates, who assured us of their readiness to accept the will of the people,” they said.

Portugal, the country’s former colonial ruler, has called for a restoration of constitutional order, with its foreign ministry urging “all concerned to refrain from any act of institutional or civil violence”.

As of Thursday, AFP reported that Guinea-Bissau’s borders had reopened.

Embalo, 53, had hoped to make history by becoming the country’s only president in the past 30 years to win a second consecutive term.

He initially said he would not seek re-election. His legitimacy had been called into question before the postponed vote, with the opposition saying his term should have officially ended in February 2025.

Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a population of over 2 million.

Its coastline is dotted with uninhabited islands, making it an ideal location for drug traffickers – the United Nations calls it a “narcostate” because it has been a key transit point for cocaine being shipped from Latin America to Europe.

Additional reporting by Richard Kagoe