President Umaro Sissoco Embalo arrives in Senegal after military coup installs General Horta N’Tam as new leader amid contested election results.
BISSAU: Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo has arrived in Senegal after being detained during a military coup that derailed election results.
Senegal’s foreign ministry confirmed Embalo arrived “safe and sound” in a military plane chartered by its government.
The military appointed General Horta N’Tam as the country’s new leader for one year following Wednesday’s power grab.
N’Tam took the oath of office at military headquarters, declaring “I have just been sworn in to lead the High Command.”
Opposition candidate Fernando Dias da Costa alleged he had won Sunday’s presidential election with approximately 52% of the vote.
“There wasn’t a coup,” Dias told AFP by telephone. “It was organised by Mr Embalo.”
Dias said he escaped from his campaign headquarters when armed men came to arrest him.
Main opposition candidate Domingos Simoes Pereira, who backed Dias after being barred from the race, was arrested on Wednesday.
The capital Bissau remained at a standstill on Thursday with most shops closed and soldiers patrolling the streets.
New military leaders banned all media programming and outlawed protests while reopening borders and lifting the nationwide curfew.
General Denis N’Canha claimed the army assumed control after uncovering a plan involving “drug lords” and “the introduction of weapons into the country to alter the constitutional order.”
The African Union condemned the coup and demanded Embalo’s immediate release.
ECOWAS chair Julius Maada Bio called the affair a “grave violation of Guinea-Bissau’s constitutional order.”
The European Union urged “a swift return to the constitutional order and the resumption of the electoral process.”
Guinea-Bissau has experienced four coups since independence from Portugal in 1974, with election results frequently contested.
“Every time we feel hopeful about the country, a crisis occurs,” said market trader Mamadou Woury Diallo. “This can’t go on.” – AFP
