Guinea-Bissau soldiers appoint ally of deposed president as prime minister

Soldiers in Guinea-Bissau have appointed a close ally of the deposed president as prime minister following a military takeover after disputed elections earlier this week.

Gen. Horta Inta-a announced that finance minister Ilídio Vieira Té, a key ally of former President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and his campaign director in legislative vote, would serve as prime minister, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

Soldiers seized power on November 26, three days after the presidential election. Embaló told French media by phone that he had been deposed and arrested. Opposition figures claimed he staged the coup to avoid defeat, while Fernando Dias, like Embaló, claims to have won.

Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, observing the vote, criticised Embaló for a “ceremonial coup.” “A military doesn’t take over governments and allow the sitting president… to announce that he has been arrested,” he said.

The capital is calm after curfew lifts and the reopening of markets and banks. Embaló flew to Senegal, which promised to help restore democracy. ECOWAS suspended Guinea-Bissau from its bodies until constitutional order is restored.

Bakary Sambe of the Timbuktu Institute said the situation remains uncertain: “We are in a state of total uncertainty… The regional organisation appears to have learned from the mistakes made in Niger.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev