By Paul Ejime
Umaro Sissoco Embaló, the deposed and controversial former president of Guinea-Bissau, has secretly returned to the country less than three weeks after announcing he had been overthrown in what multiple sources describe as a self-orchestrated “coup” on 26 November, diplomatic officials in Bissau confirmed Thursday.
“He is back, hiding somewhere inside the country and remotely directing his loyalists who now control the institutions,” a senior diplomatic source told journalists on condition of anonymity.
The bizarre sequence of events began when Embaló declared himself deposed by the military one day before the National Electoral Commission (CNE) was scheduled to announce the results of the 23 November parliamentary and presidential elections. The junta that immediately took power, led by General Horta Inta-A as “Transitional President” and former Embaló campaign director Ilídio Vieira Té as prime minister, is composed almost entirely of the president’s close allies.
Following the takeover, Embaló was flown to Dakar on a special flight arranged by Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Regional sources say Faye initially offered protection, but tensions arose after Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko publicly opposed hosting Embaló. The Guinea-Bissau leader then fled to Congo-Brazzaville, where his presence reportedly triggered divisions within President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s government, forcing another move—this time to Morocco—before his clandestine return home.
ECOWAS and the African Union have suspended Guinea-Bissau and strongly condemned the coup. Meanwhile, thirteen Guinea-Bissau civil society organisations, joined by regional groups including Afrikajom Centre, Frente Popular, Africtivistes and Sen-Canddhu, have called for a “national mega protest” on Friday, 12 December, demanding the immediate proclamation of the 23 November election results and the installation of independent presidential candidate Fernando Dias, who is currently under Nigerian protection in Bissau. The junta has banned all political demonstrations.
The crisis comes as West Africa grapples with a new wave of military incursions into politics. Five of ECOWAS’s fifteen member states—Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea, and now Guinea-Bissau—are under junta rule, while a coup attempt in Benin last Sunday was foiled with Nigerian assistance.
ECOWAS leaders will hold an emergency summit in Abuja on Sunday, 14 December, with regional peace and security topping the agenda.
Political analysts argue that repeated “constitutional coups,” election rigging, and authoritarian governance by civilian leaders have created the conditions now being exploited by military officers across the Sahel and coastal West Africa.
