Guinea-Bissau junta forms government

Guinea-Bissau’s junta formed a government on Saturday, days after taking power in a coup, as the ousted president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, arrived in the Republic of Congo’s capital, Brazzaville.

The military took control of the Portuguese-speaking nation on Wednesday, a day before the provisional results of national elections were due to be announced, and Embalo had initially left for neighbouring Senegal.

On Saturday, the junta tapped 28 people, including five army officers and four women, to lead the country.

Elsewhere in the capital, Bissau, the West African country’s leading opposition party said its headquarters had been “invaded” by a “heavily armed militia”, while clashes broke out between young people and police in the suburbs.

The true motives for the coup in Guinea-Bissau remain unclear, with speculation in some quarters that it was carried out with Embalo’s blessing.

Those suspicions intensified when the junta named General Horta N’Tam, considered a close ally of the president, to head a transitional administration set to last a year.

After invoking a plot by drug barons to sow chaos in Guinea-Bissau to justify Wednesday’s coup, N’Tam urged the new government on Saturday to “fight against corruption and drug trafficking”.

The opposition and some experts, however, have suggested that Embalo, in power since 2020, orchestrated the takeover to halt the electoral process.

After being briefly arrested on Wednesday, Embalo left the country for Senegal on a flight chartered by the Senegalese government.

On Saturday, according to sources in the Congolese government who spoke to AFP, Embalo landed in the capital of the Republic of Congo, a country he has visited many times.

“Embalo arrived in Brazzaville late in the morning on a private jet,” a source close to the Congolese government said on condition of anonymity.

A presidential source said Embalo, who had claimed victory in the election, intended to remain in the country, which is also known as Congo-Brazzaville.

Embalo, 53, is rumoured to be close to Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso.

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