Guinea-Bissau’s military junta has announced elections for Dec. 6, signalling a promised return to civilian rule after last year’s coup.
In a presidential decree, junta leader Gen. Horta Inta-a said conditions now allow free, fair and transparent legislative and presidential elections.
The announcement casts a thin beam of hope over a nation long shadowed by political upheaval and chronic instability.
Guinea-Bissau, among the world’s poorest countries, has endured repeated coups since independence from Portugal more than five decades ago.
The country of 2.2 million people is also a key transit hub for cocaine trafficking between Latin America and Europe.
Experts say the drug trade has corroded institutions and deepened rivalries, feeding cycles of military intervention and fragile civilian rule.
Following November’s coup, the armed forces installed Inta-a as head of a military government overseeing a one-year transition.
His administration now claims the groundwork is complete for elections meant to restore legitimacy and public confidence.
The pledge comes as West Africa continues to reel from a recent wave of coups stretching from Mali to Guinea.