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Guinea-Bissau’s military rulers moved swiftly to consolidate power on Saturday by announcing a new government, just days after seizing control in a coup, as the deposed president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, surfaced in Brazzaville, the Congolese capital.
The army took over the Portuguese-speaking nation on Wednesday, only a day before provisional election results were due to be released, plunging the country into fresh uncertainty.
Embalo initially fled to neighbouring Senegal but has now travelled on to the Republic of Congo, according to sources close to the Congolese authorities.
The junta unveiled a 28-member cabinet on Saturday, including five serving army officers and four women, to steer the country through a transitional period.
They appointed General Horta N’Tam, regarded as a close ally of Embalo, to head an interim administration expected to remain in place for a year.
He called on the newly formed government to prioritise the fight against corruption and organised crime, particularly drug trafficking.
Tensions continued to rise in the capital, Bissau, where the main opposition party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), said armed men had forcibly raided its headquarters.
The party claimed fighters broke into offices, expelled staff and caused serious damage to the premises. Elsewhere in the city, scuffles broke out between police and groups of young people in several suburbs.
Speculation has mounted that Embalo may have been complicit in his own removal to block the completion of the electoral process.
Opposition figures and independent analysts have suggested the coup may have been engineered to halt the vote, amid claims from rival candidate Fernando Dias that he had already won outright in the first round.
Dias has since gone into hiding within the country.
Embalo, 53, was briefly detained before being allowed to leave the country on a plane arranged by Senegalese authorities.
He later arrived in Brazzaville on a private jet and is believed to be staying in the country, where he is said to have close ties with President Denis Sassou Nguesso.
Beyond the political infighting, analysts point to Guinea-Bissau’s reputation as a hub for international drug trafficking as another factor fuelling instability.
The country’s fragile institutions, extreme poverty and entrenched corruption have long made it vulnerable to the influence of organised crime.
It is a major transit route for cocaine entering Europe from Latin America, earning it the label of a “narco-state” in some quarters.
Guinea-Bissau has endured repeated upheaval since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974, with four successful coups and numerous failed attempts to overthrow governments.
The latest takeover places it among several African nations currently suspended from the African Union following military coups.
