PH
Guinea-Conqueror Following what he called a “coup attempt,” President Umaro Sissoco Embalo sacked the prime minister on Wednesday and selected a replacement right away.
A presidential order sent to AFP said Geraldo Joao Martins “is dismissed from his post as prime minister. The decree comes into force immediately.”
Another decree named Rui Duarte Barros as his replacement.
On the evening of November 30, fighting broke out in Bissau’s capital between the presidential guard’s special forces and national guard members, resulting in the deaths of two people.
Embalo said that there had been a “attempted coup” and dissolved the legislature, stating that new elections will be held since the country of West Africa was in a state of crisis.
In addition, he declared that Martins would stay in his position while assuming responsibility for the ministries of defense and the interior.
Martins and Barros are both part of the PAIGC party, which is in charge of the opposition alliance that emerged victorious in the June polls.
Barros was prime minister of a transitional government in the early 2000s after a stint as finance minister.
Since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974, the country of two million people has seen a series of coups and coup attempts.
Elected to a five-year term in December 2019, Embalo survived a bid to overthrow him in February 2022.
