Guinea-Bissau's deposed President Umaro Sissoco Embaló has arrived in neighbouring Senegal following his release by military forces that toppled his government this week, Senegal's authorities have announced.
It follows negotiations by the regional West African bloc Ecowas to secure his transfer amid rising tensions in Guinea-Bissau.
Senegal's foreign ministry said in a statement that Embaló landed in the country safe and sound on a chartered military flight late on Thursday.
The military in Guinea-Bissau has already sworn in a new transitional leader, Gen Horta N'Tam, who will rule the coup-prone country for a year.
Wednesday's coup came a day before authorities were due to announce the provisional results of a presidential and parliamentary elections.
The military has already suspended the electoral process and blocked the release of the results. It said it was acting to thwart a plot by unnamed politicians who had the support of a well-known drug baron to destabilise the country, announcing the closure of its borders and imposing a night-time curfew.
Sandwiched between Senegal and Guinea, the coup-prone country is known as a notorious drug-trafficking hub where the military has been influential since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974.
Both Embaló and his closest rival Fernando Dias had claimed victory in the tumultuous electoral process. The military junta has banned public protests and all actions deemed as disturbing the peace in the country, maintaining high tensions in the capital, Bissau.
According to Gen N'Tam, the military acted to block operations that threatened democracy and secured the reopening of borders after the coup. Meanwhile, the African Union and Ecowas have condemned the coup, urging respect for constitutional order, as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern, calling for an immediate restoration of order.
Guinea-Bissau has witnessed multiple coups throughout its history, with this event marking a significant political upheaval in the West African nation.
