AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU – Military coup on the eve of the announcement of the presidential election results

Bissau – “The situation in Bissau is calm. All radio stations have been forced to stop broadcasting and suspend updates on their social media and websites, while the military guards the streets,” report local sources in Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, where yesterday, November 26, a group of officers calling themselves the “Supreme Military Command for Restoring Order” announced they had taken complete control of the country after storming the residence of the Head of State, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, and arresting him.
The “Supreme Military Command for Restoring Order” is headed by Brigadier General Dinis Incanha, head of the President’s Military Office. The coup leaders claim to have seized control of Guinea-Bissau to prevent a conspiracy to destabilize the country, involving politicians and a “notorious drug lord.”
This morning, the coup leaders appointed General Horta N’Tam as President of the interim government, which is to remain in office for one year.
The coup group, although claiming to be composed of “all branches of the army,” consists largely of members of the presidential guard. The coup was carried out while the majority and the opposition are arguing over the results of the presidential elections held on Sunday, November 23.
On November 25, both outgoing President Embaló and the main opposition candidate, Fernando Dias, claimed victory, although the official preliminary results were not expected until today, November 27. There is widespread suspicion that the outgoing president orchestrated the coup in order to negotiate a way out that would allow him to remain in power. This has been denounced by Fernando Dias, who has called the military coup and the arrest of President Umaro Sissoco Embaló a “staged event” to manipulate the election results. All the more so because the coup leaders also arrested representatives of the opposition, starting with Domingos Simoes Pereira, the leader of the historic party that spearheaded the country’s independence, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde , who had been barred from running in the presidential elections. Pereira had subsequently called on his supporters to vote for Fernando Dias, the chairman of the Social Renewal Party . The coup was condemned by the Economic Community of West African States , which had deployed a mission of observers and military personnel to ensure the integrity and security of Sunday’s elections. Yesterday’s coup is the fourth military coup in Guinea-Bissau, joining 17 others that have been attempted and thwarted since independence in 1974. The presence of drug traffickers remains a constant threat, as they use the country as a bridge between Latin America and West Africa to transport drugs destined for European markets.

Read original article