The military junta that took power in Guinea-Bissau after a coup announced today, Thursday (11/27/2025), that General Horta Ntam will be the new leader of the transitional government, which reinforces the coup that was carried out yesterday, Wednesday, on the eve of the publication of the results of the general elections that took place last Sunday.
The so-called Supreme Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order – as the ruling military junta calls itself – appointed Ntam responsible for leading a one-year transitional period, during a ceremony held at the army headquarters, according to a statement broadcast on state television.
General Ntam was, until now, the Chief of General Staff to the outgoing president and re-election candidate, Umaru Sissoko Embalo.
The military commander said during his speech in which he stressed that the army took power “to protect democracy and political stability” and “it was not an easy decision.”
“The intense activity of groups linked to drug trafficking, taking advantage of the electoral process, aims to manipulate and ultimately seize democracy itself,” Ntam declared, adding that government intelligence services had collected documented evidence of such attempts.
Guinea Bissau is in a “difficult and sensitive” moment.
The military commander admitted that this West African country is going through a “difficult and sensitive” moment, and stressed that the senior leadership will work to restore normal life, focusing on combating drug trafficking and corruption.
A group of soldiers took control of Guinea Bissau on Wednesday, suspending the ongoing electoral process and ordering the closure of the country’s borders and airspace “until further orders.”
The coup plotters announced the “immediate” dismissal of Embalo – who claimed to have been arrested and overthrown – and the “immediate” cessation of the ongoing electoral process.
They also issued a decision to close the country’s institutions, suspend “social media” activities, and impose a national curfew between 7 p.m. And 6:00 am local time (same as Greenwich Mean Time).
But the army announced the lifting of the current curfew with the aim of restoring the normal movement of people and goods and reducing tension in the capital, where military reinforcements were deployed at strategic points.
Shortly before Ntam was sworn in, opposition leader Fernando Dias da Costa, Embalo’s main rival in the general election, accused the president of committing the coup to avoid his supposed defeat in the election, which both had declared victory before the coup.
CP (Effie, AFP)