Guinea-Bissau opposition leader Domingos Simões Pereira was released from detention on Friday after spending several months in jail following the country’s latest military coup.
Pereira was among senior political figures arrested after the military overthrew President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and seized power in November, just days after presidential elections were held.
The junta said it intervened to prevent bloodshed between supporters of rival candidates amid rising political tensions.
Although Pereira was barred from contesting the election, his preferred candidate claimed victory alongside Embaló, who later fled the country following the takeover.
An AFP journalist reported that Pereira was escorted to his home on the outskirts of the capital, Bissau, by security forces and Senegal’s visiting defence minister.
The November coup occurred before the release of official election results and marked the fifth military takeover in Guinea-Bissau since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1974.
Guinea-Bissau has long struggled with political instability, widespread poverty and weak state institutions, factors that have contributed to chronic corruption and made the country a key transit hub for drug trafficking in West Africa.
