Guinea-Bissau’s military has named General Horta N’Tam as the country’s interim leader for a one-year period, a day after seizing power, suspending the electoral process, and detaining President Umaro Sissoco Embaló.
Heavy military presence remained around the presidential palace on Thursday morning, with soldiers patrolling key streets in Bissau following Wednesday’s intense gunfire that signaled yet another shift in the nation’s fragile political landscape.
General N’Tam, the army’s chief of staff, took the oath of office at military headquarters before announcing that he would head the High Command.
“Actions were necessary to block operations that aimed to threaten our democracy,” he said, stressing that the intervention was based on what the military described as credible threats to constitutional order.
The coup leaders claim to have taken “total control” of the state after halting the release of results from Sunday’s presidential election, in which Embaló had been widely expected to secure a second term.
N’Tam, previously seen as an ally of the president, insisted that the takeover was supported by “sufficient evidence” of a plot involving external actors and illicit arms.
Guinea-Bissau, wedged between Senegal and Guinea, has endured repeated coups and attempted coups since its independence from Portugal in 1974.
The latest upheaval follows an October announcement by the military that it had prevented another attempt to undermine the constitutional order.
On Wednesday, General Denis N’Canha, head of the presidential military office, alleged that a network involving “drug lords” had planned to smuggle weapons into the country to influence political outcomes.
He declared the suspension of all electoral activities, imposed a nationwide curfew, and ordered all media programming halted.
Borders were temporarily sealed but reopened on Thursday, according to General Lassana Mansali.
President Embaló is being held at the armed forces’ headquarters and is said to be in good condition, according to military sources.
The army also confirmed the detention of the interior minister and senior security officials. Opposition figure Domingos Simões Pereira, excluded from Sunday’s vote by a Supreme Court ruling, was likewise arrested.
The coup has triggered swift international condemnation.
ECOWAS reaffirmed its zero-tolerance stance on unconstitutional power grabs, while UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed “deep concern” over the situation.
Portugal urged calm and discouraged any form of violence.
Press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders criticized the shutdown of national media, calling it a serious violation of citizens’ right to information during a period of crisis.
The political turbulence in Guinea-Bissau adds to a troubling pattern of recent military takeovers in West Africa, following similar events in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Guinea.
As the military tightens its grip, the nation—already one of the world’s poorest and a major hub for trans-Atlantic drug trafficking—faces renewed uncertainty over its democratic future.