The President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea-Bissau has appointed two new officials to protect his security. They were appointed shortly after coups in Niger and Gabon and took up their duties on Monday. General Tomas Djassi was named as head of Presidential security while General Horta Inta was appointed as Chief of staff for the president on Friday. Before his appointment, General Djassi was the head of the National Guard, an elite unit of the army whose intervention helped stall the February 2022 coup attempt while Inta was head of the central police station in Bissau. The two Positions were long in existent in the government’s organizational structure but have not been filled for several decades. The two generals were sworn in on Monday during a ceremony at the presidential Palace according to an APF journalist. Guinea-Bissau has suffered four military coups since independence in 1974 with the most recent in 2012.  

‘’it is true that coup d’état carried out by presidential security officers have become fashionable, any suspicious movement will be met with an appropriate response.’’ The president told reporters. He warned that Niger’s coup presented an existential threat to the economic community of West African states, saying the deposed Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum was that country’s only legitimate leader.

SOURCE: PUNCH