Deposed President Umaro Sissoco Embaló of Guinea-Bissau has arrived safely in neighbouring Senegal after being released by the military forces that ousted his government earlier this week, according to Senegalese authorities.
The transfer followed negotiations by the regional West African bloc, ECOWAS, aimed at securing his safe passage amid escalating tensions in Guinea-Bissau. Senegal’s foreign ministry confirmed that Embaló landed on a chartered military flight late on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the military in Guinea-Bissau has sworn in a new transitional leader, General Horta N’Tam, who had previously served as head of the presidential guard. He took the oath on Thursday in brief proceedings at army headquarters and is set to lead the coup-prone nation for one year.
The coup occurred on Wednesday, just a day before authorities were due to announce provisional results of a presidential and parliamentary election. The military has since suspended the electoral process, blocked the release of results, and imposed a night-time curfew, claiming it acted to prevent a plot by unnamed politicians allegedly supported by a “well-known drug baron” to destabilise the country.
When asked about Embaló’s health during an interview on BBC’s Newsday on Friday, Sierra Leone’s Foreign Affairs Minister Timothy Musa Kabba declined to provide details but said the priority was ensuring the former president’s safe evacuation.
Kabba added that Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, currently chairing ECOWAS, had contacted Guinea-Bissau’s military on Wednesday to secure guarantees for Embaló’s protection.
