Guinea Bissau

Guinea-Bissau voters approved a referendum on a constitutional change that will give the president more powers, the country's electoral commission said Tuesday, ahead of a general election meant to restore civilian rule later this year. The referendum vote, held Sunday, came less than 10 months after a coup in which the military seized power in the west African country and just months ahead of the December 6 presidential election. 

The West African nation's military government wants to amend the constitution to give more powers to the president. The junta, which seized power last year, says it will hold elections in December.

Guinea-Bissau opposition leader Domingos Simoes Pereira was released from jail on Friday after spending months behind bars. He was one of several senior politicians imprisoned by the military after it seized power in November, overthrowing President Umaro Sissoco Embalo just days after presidential elections.

The opposition alleges that the ousted president staged his own coup to avoid defeat in the last election. Meanwhile, the country's political institutions have been left in limbo as the country gears up for fresh polls.

The West African country is set to hold legislative and presidential elections on December 6. … A coup in November removed Embalo and inaugurated former army chief of staff Inta-a as the head of the military government, tasked with overseeing a one-year transition period.

Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone and acting leader of ECOWAS … led a high-level mission to Guinea-Bissau over the weekend to hold talks with the military high command that seized power and established a “transitional government” for up to one year, led by General Horta N’ta, former chief of staff to the deposed president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló.

Guinea-Bissau’s military junta adopted a 12-month transitional charter that bars the interim president and prime minister from running in the next elections, two weeks after officers staged a coup that suspended the constitution.

Guinea-Bissau's electoral commission says that it cannot publish the results of last week's contested election as the vote counts have been destroyed in an attack. The military took control of the country a day before the provisional results were due to be announced.

Military takeovers are nothing new in Guinea-Bissau. The West African country has experienced at least nine attempted and successful coups since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974. But when military officers announced they had seized control of the country last Wednesday, some analysts and political figures were sceptical.

West African regional bloc ECOWAS on Thursday condemned a military takeover in Guinea-Bissau. The bloc called for the release of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and other arrested officials.