The military junta in Guinea-Bissau is no longer seeking to arrest a senior opposition politician who had been on the run, an opposition official said on Saturday, January 31, even as another prominent opposition figure has now been placed under house arrest.
The junta detained several senior politicians after overthrowing President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and seizing power on November 26, just days after a presidential election and before the official results were announced. Following the takeover, the military suspended the electoral process and Embalo fled the country.
Embalo’s main election rival, Fernando Dias, who claimed he won the vote, escaped arrest by taking refuge in the Nigerian embassy.
On Saturday, Dias’s communications manager said the military had lifted most of the restrictions imposed on him. “Dias is not under house arrest,” communications manager Gabriel Ye told AFP. “The only restrictions imposed on him by the military authorities are that he must refrain from making public statements or engaging in political activities,” he added.
Ye also said Embalo’s former prime minister, Geraldo Martins, had been released.
However, another opposition leader, Domingos Simoes Pereira, who was freed from prison on Friday after months in detention, has now been placed under house arrest. Pereira, a long-time critic of Embalo, was released from jail in Bissau on Friday evening but was escorted to his residence on the outskirts of the capital, where supporters gathered to cheer him.
“All those detained in connection with the coup have been released,” army commander Jorgito Biague told AFP on Saturday, January 31. “Domingos Simoes Pereira is the only one under house arrest — for economic crimes. His case is in the hands of the judiciary and not the military high command,” he said.
Pereira leads the PAIGC party, which guided the coastal West African country to independence from Portugal in 1974. He was disqualified from the recent presidential election for submitting his application late and subsequently backed Dias.
Guinea-Bissau has experienced five coups and several attempted military takeovers since independence.
On Saturday, the Economic Community of West African States welcomed what it described as “recent measures taken by the transitional authorities” in Guinea-Bissau, saying they were aimed at “fostering an inclusive political environment and advancing the country’s return to constitutional order”.
The regional bloc called for the “full release” of Pereira and urged “guarantees of fundamental rights and freedoms for all citizens”, while appealing to “all stakeholders” to work together towards “a peaceful and credible transition leading to democratic elections”.
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