Guinea-Bissau Soldiers Declare Junta, Install General as โLeader After Election Dispute
BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau – Soldiers inโ Guinea-Bissau announced Wednesday they have seized power, installing Gen. Umaro Sissoco Embalรณ as the head of a transitional junta following a disputed presidential election. The move comes after days of escalating tensions and competing claims of victory from Embalรณ and his main rival, Domingos Revideiro Dias.
The coup, led by military โขofficers who appeared on state television, is the latestโฃ in aโ seriesโ of political upheavals to plague theโข West Africanโค nation. the โsoldiers cited an alleged plot to manipulate election resultsโ involving politicians and a โknown drug lord as justification for their intervention. This action further destabilizes a country already grappling with a legitimacyโ crisis and weakened state institutions.
According to aโข military spokesperson, Dinis N’Tchama, the “scheme was โset up by some national politicians with the participationโ of a well-known โdrug lord, andโ domestic and foreign nationals.”
The announcement followed presidentialโข and legislative elections where both Embalรณ, 53, and Dias, 47, claimed to haveโ won. The oppositionโ had previously refused toโ recognizeโฃ Embalรณ’sโฃ presidency,arguing his initial term had expired. Dias, in โคa video statement, claimed he escaped โarrest and vowed to fight back, stating, “Umaro lost the elections, and โขrather of accepting the result, he fabricated a coup d’รฉtat.”
Analysts point to the erosion of Guinea-Bissau’s institutions under Embalรณ’s leadership as a contributing factor to the instability. Beverly Ochieng, a senior security analystโข at Control Risks, noted the unilateralโ dissolution of the legislatureโข and the diminished capacityโ of the judiciary, alongside pervasive political โinfluence.
Guinea-Bissau has a history of coups and political interference, raising concerns that this latest power grab โcould embolden militaries in the widerโฃ region,โค already witnessing disputed elections in countries โฃlike Tanzania, Cameroon, andโค Ivory Coast.