ADDIS ABABA: The African Union called on Thursday for the “immediate and unconditional” release of Guinea-Bissau’s president Umaro Sissoco Embalo, after the military seized power.
Military officers declared “total control” of the country after they seized control on Wednesday, arresting the president and derailing the announcement of the election results, which Embala had been expected to win.
General Horta N’Tam, chief of staff of the army, declared he had been sworn in to lead on Thursday, in the country’s fourth coup since independence from Portugal in 1974.
In a statement on X, chair of the AU Mahmoud Ali Youssouf called “for the immediate and unconditional release of President Embalo and all detained officials,” urging all parties to exercise restraint.
Embalo was arrested Wednesday and being held at general-staff headquarters where he was being “well-treated,” according to a military source.
A senior officer added the chief of staff, and the minister of the interior, had also been detained.
Opposition leader Domingos Simoes Pereira, who was barred from last weekend’s presidential election by the Supreme Court, was also arrested Wednesday, according to two sources close to him.
The AU “unequivocally condemns” the coup, the statement added, and stressed “the imperative of respecting the ongoing electoral process.”
Guinea-Bissau is among the world’s poorest countries and is also a hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, a trade facilitated by the nation’s long history of political tumult.
African Union calls for immediate release of Guinea-Bissau president
https://arab.news/6frau
African Union calls for immediate release of Guinea-Bissau president
- General Horta N’Tam, chief of staff of the army, declared he had been sworn in to lead on Thursday
- Chair of the AU Mahmoud Ali Youssouf called “for the immediate and unconditional release of President Embalo and all detained officials,“
Trump tells Britain he does not need its help to win Iran war
- Rejects deployment of UK aircraft carriers to help the US and Israel in their war with Iran
- Trump was reacting to reports that the UK was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment
Trump was reacting to reports that the UK was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment
DOVER, US: President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Britain is giving “serious thought” to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East, but added that the US does not need them to win the war with Iran, in the latest clash between the military allies.
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,”
Trump said. "That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer,” Trump posted to his Truth Social account.
“But we will remember,” he said. “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!“
Trump posted the message shortly after attending the return of the first six US service members killed in the Middle East war, at Dover Airforce Base in the northeastern state of Delaware.
British media reports say the Royal Navy is preparing the HMS Prince Wales, an aircraft carrier currently at Portsmouth in southern England, for possible deployment to the Middle East, but no final decision had been made.
Trump has said he is “not happy with the UK,” mocking Starmer by saying “this is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”
The social media post comes after the British Ministry of Defense said on Saturday it was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment.
But no final decision has been taken about whether to deploy the aircraft carrier to the Middle East, a British official said.
Starmer has defended his decision not to allow US forces to use British bases to support initial strikes on Iran, saying he needed to be satisfied that any military action was legal and well planned.
He later granted US forces permission to use British bases for what he called defensive strikes against Iranian missiles in storage depots or launchers.
Starmer earlier this year criticized Trump’s desire to buy Greenland and said his comments that European troops avoided frontline combat in the war in Afghanistan were “frankly appalling.”
