The African Union suspended Guinea-Bissau on Friday, two days after President Umaro Sissoco Embalo was ousted in a military takeover.
The army announced on Wednesday it had removed Embalo from power, halting the release of election results in the Portuguese-speaking nation.
AU chairman Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said the bloc decided “to suspend Guinea-Bissau from its bodies with immediate effect.”
The junta named General Horta N’Tam, formerly the army chief of staff, as transitional president for a one-year period.
Embalo, initially detained by soldiers, fled to neighbouring Senegal on Thursday as uncertainty deepened.
Opposition candidate Fernando Dias, who claims victory in the disputed vote, told AFP he is “safe” and hiding within the country.
The takeover drew swift condemnation from abroad, fuelling concern about yet another blow to West Africa’s fragile democratic order.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the coup as an “unacceptable violation of democratic principles.”
ECOWAS announced its own suspension of Guinea-Bissau from “all decision-making bodies,” tightening the regional pressure.
The small nation, wedged between Senegal and Guinea, has endured four successful coups and repeated attempts since independence in 1974.
Election outcomes are frequently contested, compounding a sense of political fragility that shadows nearly every transition.
Guinea-Bissau, among the world’s poorest countries, also serves as a key transit point for cocaine smuggling from Latin America to Europe.
Observers say the enduring link between political instability and organised crime continues to undermine hopes for national reform.
The country now joins a growing list of AU-suspended states following recent coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Sudan, and Madagascar.
Sanctions on Gabon, suspended after the overthrow of President Ali Bongo, were lifted in April as its transition advanced.
