Guinea-Bissau junta leader makes first trip to Chad

Guinea-Bissau's junta leader, General Horta N'Tam, travelled to Chad on Monday in his first foreign trip during more than eight months in power.

N'Tam left Osvaldo Vieira International Airport at around 9:30 GMT. The Chadian presidency said he was a guest of Chad's president for military parades marking the country's 66th independence anniversary.

The trip comes as Guinea-Bissau faces a December 6 deadline to hold presidential and legislative elections meant to restore civilian rule. A referendum is also scheduled for August 30 on whether to approve a constitutional change giving the president more powers.

The military took control of Guinea-Bissau in late November, ousting president Umaro Sissoco Embalo a day before provisional results of national elections were due to be announced. The junta appointed N'Tam, a close associate of Embalo, as transitional leader.

ECOWAS and the African Union condemned the coup and suspended Guinea-Bissau from participation. Several countries also froze relations, including neighbours Senegal and Guinea.

A transitional charter published in December bars N'Tam from running for election. A Senegalese delegation acting as an ECOWAS-designated mediator travelled to Guinea-Bissau on August 6 to present a new mediation plan aimed at stabilising the transition and restoring constitutional order.

Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno visited Guinea-Bissau in May 2025, when several sectoral agreements were signed. Relations between Bissau and N'Djamena strengthened after that visit.