Guinea-Bissau opposition leader Domingos Simões Pereira was released from jail on Friday after months of imprisonment. He was detained following a military coup in November that overthrew President Umaro Sissoco Embalo days after a presidential election.
The junta stated it seized power to prevent bloodshed between supporters of rival candidates and declared it would control the country for one year. Pereira had been barred from standing in the election.
Although official results were never released due to the coup, both Pereira’s preferred candidate, Fernando Diaz, and Embalo had claimed victory. Embalo subsequently fled the country.
Pereira was accompanied to his home on the outskirts of the capital, Bissau, by security forces and the visiting Senegalese Defense Minister.
Guinea-Bissau has experienced repeated instability since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974, with only one president ever completing a full term.
