Guinean President Umaro Sissoco Embaló says that “power is achieved at the ballot box and not through a coup d’état.”
Guinean President Umaro Sissoco Embaló presided over the swearing-in ceremony of 620 new soldiers to the national flag on Saturday, which he called the “anti-coup battalion.”
The new soldiers were sworn in during a military parade at the Bissalanca air base, outside Bissau, where they received intensive training for 45 days.
The new soldiers are elements who served in different defense and security structures but who had not yet sworn allegiance to the flag of Guinea-Bissau.
The battalion has 583 members of the security forces of the presidency of the Republic, trained in Congo Brazzaville, China, Mauritania, Morocco, Rwanda, Turkey, Uganda and Chad.
“From today, this incorporation of yours is called Biague Na Ntan, anti-coup incorporation,” defended Umaro Sissoco Embaló.
Biague Na Ntan is the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, whom the Guinean president has praised for his role “in the defense of democracy” in the country.
Umaro Sissoco Embaló observed that the military personnel who joined the Armed Forces this Saturday, by swearing allegiance to the national flag, “are beginning to have more responsibilities towards the country.”
The Guinean head of state urged the new military to remain vigilant so that there is no “more disorder” and that citizens can “live in peace like in any other country in the world.”
Sissoco Embaló once again highlighted the idea that he always defends of separation between the military and politicians, pointing out that the latter “cannot enter the barracks” in a democracy.
“Power is achieved at the ballot box and not through a coup d’état,” Embaló emphasized.
Thirty-seven of the new soldiers are members of the Armed Forces’ music band.
Source: Observadora
