The Albany Gazette - G.Bissau junta forms government as ousted president lands in Brazzaville

The military took control of the Portuguese-speaking nation on Wednesday -- a day before the provisional results of national elections were due to be announced -- and Embalo had initially left for neighbouring Senegal.

On Saturday the junta tapped 28 people, including five army officers and four women, to lead the drug-trafficking hotspot.

Elsewhere in the capital Bissau, the west African country's leading opposition party said its headquarters had been "invaded" by a "heavily armed militia", while clashes broke out between young people and police in the suburbs.

The true motives for the coup in Guinea-Bissau remain unclear, with speculation in some quarters that it was carried out with Embalo's blessing.

Those suspicions intensified when the junta named General Horta N'Tam, considered a close ally of the president, to head a transitional administration set to last a year.

After invoking a plot by drug barons to sow chaos in Guinea-Bissau to justify Wednesday's coup, N'Tam urged the new government on Saturday to "fight against corruption and drug trafficking".

The opposition and some experts however have suggested that Embalo, in power since 2020, orchestrated the takeover to halt the electoral process.

- Flight of the president -

After being briefly arrested on Wednesday, Embalo left the country for Senegal on a flight chartered by the Senegalese government.

On Saturday, according to sources in the Congolese government who spoke to AFP, Embalo landed in the capital of the Republic of Congo, a country he has visited many times.

"Embalo arrived in Brazzaville late in the morning on a private jet," a source close to the Congolese government said on condition of anonymity.

A presidency source said Embalo, who had claimed victory in the election, intended to remain in the country, which is also known as Congo-Brazzaville.

Embalo, 53, is rumoured to be close to Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso.

Back in Guinea-Bissau, the powerful opposition African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), said its headquarters had been "illegally invaded by heavily armed militia groups" in Bissau.

According to a PAIGC statement, the fighters "proceeded to expel all the people who were there, break down office doors and seriously violate the integrity of the facilities".

Elsewhere in the capital Saturday, minor clashes broke out between young people and law enforcement officers in a suburb not far from the headquarters of Fernando Dias, who ran against Embalo.

Dias claimed in comments to AFP Thursday that he had won the election in the first round, accusing Embalo of having orchestrated the coup.

He has since gone into hiding inside the country.

- 'Narco-state' -

Some political researchers say a high-level turf war to control illegal drug smuggling networks may have also played a part in Guinea-Bissau's instability.

Crippling poverty, chaotic administration and political tumult have made Guinea-Bissau a fertile ground for corruption and drug smuggling.

It is a key transit point for Latin American cocaine destined for Europe to the point that some analysts have dubbed it a "narco-state".

Some observers suspect senior politicians and military brass of being involved in the illicit hard drugs trade.

Sandwiched between Senegal and Guinea, Guinea-Bissau had already undergone four coups and a host of attempted takeovers since its independence from Portugal in 1974.

Among the world's poorest countries, it has now joined the likes of Burkina Faso, Mali, Madagascar, Niger and Sudan on the list of states suspended from the African Union following coups.

(C.Young--TAG)