BISSAU – In a dramatic seizure of power that has upended the nation's fragile democracy, the military in Guinea-Bissau has deposed President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and installed a transitional leader. The coup, announced on Wednesday by a faction calling itself the "High Military Command for the Restoration of Order," represents the latest eruption of political violence in a country with a long history of instability. The military faction asserted it had taken "total control," suspending the electoral process indefinitely, closing borders, and imposing a curfew following reports of gunfire in the capital. By Thursday, General Horta Inta-A, formerly the head of the presidential guard, was sworn in as transitional president at army headquarters for a one-year period. The military justified its intervention by alleging it thwarted a destabilizing plot by politicians in league with a "well-known drug baron." General Inta-A stated there was "sufficient [evidence] to justify the operation." The deposed president, who confirmed his ouster in a call to France 24, stating, "I have been deposed," was subsequently transported to Senegal on Thursday night. Senegal's foreign ministry confirmed it chartered the aircraft after engaging with actors in Guinea-Bissau to secure his release, suggesting a negotiated element to the crisis. Also detained were several high-profile figures, including main election rival Fernando Dias and the army chief. This power grab unfolds against a backdrop of acute political tension. The coup occurred just as provisional results from Sunday's presidential election were anticipated, with both Embalo and Dias having prematurely declared victory. The election's legitimacy was already in question, as the main opposition PAIGC party was barred from fielding a candidate, leading civil society groups to brand the poll "illegitimate." The military's narrative, however, is contested. A civil society coalition and Embalo's rival, Fernando Dias, have levelled counter-allegations that the ousted president himself orchestrated a "simulated coup" as a "ruse to block election results from coming out in case he lost." Embalo has not publicly addressed these claims. The international response has been swift. African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf condemned the coup, demanding the "immediate and unconditional release" of all detainees and urging restraint. This event marks at least the ninth coup or attempted coup since independence from Portugal in 1974, underscoring the nation's chronic volatility and its notoriety as a drug trafficking hub. With the new military command now in charge, the path forward hinges on fraught negotiations with regional bodies like ECOWAS and the AU, which are pressing for the rapid restoration of constitutional order in this deeply fractured state.