Normalcy begins to return in Guinea-Bissau after military coup and presidential arrest
Guinea-Bissau Army general Horta N'Tam looks on during the swearing-in ceremony as the transition leader and the leader of the High Command in Bissau. The Guinea-Bissau military appointed a general as the country's new leader Thursday for one year, a day after seizing power and arresting the president of the coup-prone West African nation.
Image: PATRICK MEINHARDT / AFP
Life limped back to normal on Friday in the capital of volatile Guinea-Bissau after the West African nation's fifth coup that came on the heels of presidential and parliamentary polls.
The military appointed General Horta N'Tam, the army's chief of staff, as the country's new leader for a transition period of one year after Wednesday's putsch.
The takeover came just one day before authorities had been due to announce the provisional results of the November 23 polls.
There were vehicles and taxis along the main road from the port of the seaside capital, Bissau, to the presidential palace, as well as pedestrians, AFP journalists said.
Security was eased in parts of the capital, but remained in place at key locations.
Traders and shoppers were back at the city's main markets, while shops, restaurants and small grocery outlets had also reopened.
"I resumed my work because if I stay home, I will have nothing to eat," said Boubacar Embalo, a 25-year-old street vendor.
"But thing's aren't going too well for the moment. I have made rounds of the city since morning but have not managed to sell anything," he added.
Surrounding areas of Bissau were more deserted, with few people at the reopened markets, AFP journalists said.
Sandwiched between Senegal and Guinea, Guinea-Bissau had already undergone four coups and a host of attempted takeovers since its independence from Portugal in 1974.
Crippling poverty and chaotic administration have made the country a fertile ground for Latin American drug lords smuggling cocaine to Europe.
Land, air and sea borders — all sealed off on Wednesday — have reportedly been reopened.
A nationwide curfew was lifted and the new authorities ordered the immediate reopening of markets, schools and private institutions.
Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo left the country for Senegal after the coup.
Opposition candidate Fernando Dias da Costa told AFP he believed he had won Sunday's election.
He alleged that Embalo, who has also claimed victory, had "organised" the power grab to prevent him from taking office.
Guinea-Bissau's last presidential election in November 2019 was followed by a political crisis, with two rivals claiming to be head of state.
That only ended in April 2020 when the west African regional bloc, ECOWAS, recognised Embalo as the winner.
AFP