Guinea-Bissau's junta has formed a 28-member provisional government days after taking power in a coup, while ousted president Umaro Sissoco Embalo arrived in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, according to AFP reporting carried by France 24.
The military takeover happened on Wednesday, one day before provisional election results were due to be announced. By Saturday, the junta had named a new team to run the country, including five army officers and four women, signalling an attempt to normalise what began as a disruptive seizure of power.
The report says the junta appointed General Horta N'Tam to lead a transitional administration set to last a year. That choice is politically significant because N'Tam is described as a close ally of Embalo, feeding speculation that the coup may have been influenced by insiders rather than being a clean break with the presidency.
Those suspicions are not resolved in the packet. The opposition and some experts have suggested Embalo may have orchestrated the takeover to halt the electoral process, while the junta itself has cited a plot by drug barons and called for a fight against corruption and trafficking. The true motive remains unclear.
What is clear is that the political fallout is widening. The opposition African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde said its headquarters were invaded by heavily armed militia, and minor clashes were reported in the capital. That points to a country still unsettled after the takeover rather than one moving rapidly toward stability.
Embalo's whereabouts also matter. He was initially taken to Senegal after being briefly arrested, then arrived in Brazzaville on Saturday. A source close to the Congolese government said he landed on a private jet and intended to remain in the country. That suggests the ousted leader may have found a temporary refuge, though not necessarily a permanent political solution.
Guinea-Bissau has a long history of instability, coups and attempted coups, and the packet notes that the country has already undergone four coups and numerous takeovers since independence. The latest upheaval therefore fits a pattern that has repeatedly undermined state institutions and democratic transfers of power.
The junta's insistence that it is restoring order may play better domestically than the image of a newly ousted leader landing in another capital. But the broader picture is one of a country still struggling with corruption, poverty, drug trafficking and military intervention all at once.
For now, the verified story is that the junta has installed a provisional government, Embalo is in Brazzaville, and Guinea-Bissau remains in a contested political transition with no clear resolution in sight.
