Guinea-Bissau coup a sham?

Senegal's Prime Minister and Nigeria's former President have both said they believe the ousting of Guinea-Bissau's President this week was staged. Umaro Sissoco Embaló's apparent removal by the military on Wednesday came a day before authorities were due to announce election results, BBC News reports. The military has since suspended the electoral process and blocked the release of the results, insisting it thwarted a plot to destabilise the politically unstable country. Senegal's PM Ousmane Sonko and Nigeria's ex-leader Goodluck Jonathan did not provide evidence to support their claim that the coup was fabricated. Embaló has previously faced accusations of using crises to quash dissent. Some local civil society groups have accused Embaló of masterminding a ‘simulated coup’ against himself with the help of the military, saying it was a ruse to block election results from coming out in case he lost. Embaló has not responded to the allegations. The 53-year-old former President arrived in neighbouring Senegal on a chartered military flight late on Thursday following his release by the military forces who toppled his government. Nigeria's Jonathan, who led a team of election observers from the West African Elders Forum to Guinea-Bissau, said the incident ‘was not a coup’. He described it as a ‘ceremonial coup’, questioning the events that preceded it and why it was Embaló who first annoounced his own overthrow. The latter phoned French TV station France 24 and said: ‘I have been deposed.’ Jonathan contrasted this with hw other leaders in the region were ousted in recent coups. Meanwhile, Senegal's Sonko told lawmakers that ‘what happened in Guinea-Bissau was a sham’. Both men have demanded the results of the presidential election be released.

Their statements add to opposition claims in Guinea-Bissau that the coup was contrived, though no-one has so far presented evidence to support this. On Friday, Guinea-Bissau's transitional leader Gen Horta N'Tam appointed Ilidio Vieira Té, previously the Finance Minister, as the new Prime Minister. Additionally, the African Union suspended Guinea-Bissau's membership on Friday because of the unconstitutional military takeover, AFP reports, according to BBC News. The West African bloc Ecowas took a similar action, while urging the military to return to the barracks.

Full BBC News report