Guinea-Bissau junta sets election date following last year's coup

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) — Guinea-Bissau's military junta has set a date for new elections following its takeover late last year, according to a statement by the junta's leader on Wednesday.

In a presidential decree, Gen. Horta Inta-a said the necessary conditions for holding free, fair and transparent elections had been met and the legislative and presidential elections would be held on Dec. 6.

Guinea-Bissau, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been dogged by coups and attempted coups since its independence from Portugal more than 50 years ago, including a coup attempt last October. The country of 2.2 million people is known as a hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, a trend that experts say has fueled its political crises.

After the November coup, the military high command in the West African nation inaugurated former army chief of staff Inta-a as the head of the military government, which will oversee a one-year transition period.

West Africa has seen a wave of coups since 2020, typically with the stated purpose of protecting the country against insurgencies or fixing bad governance.

Military leaders in nearby Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso also took power by force on pledges of providing more security to citizens against extremist armed groups. In neighboring Guinea, Gen. Mamadi Doumbouya overthrew the president in 2021 on a promise to rid the country of corruption.