BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau: Major General Horta Inta-a was installed as the transitional president this week by Guinea-Bissau's military, a day after soldiers overthrew the civilian leadership in a swift power grab before the results of a weekend election could be announced.

President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was ousted in the coup, arrived in Senegal aboard a special flight following the West African regional bloc's intervention, Senegal's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The self-styled "High Military Command for the Restoration of Order" announced in a televised statement on November 26 that they had overthrown Embalo. They said the move came in response to a destabilisation plan involving politicians and drug barons.

Inta-a made his first public appearance dressed in a military uniform at a ceremony broadcast on state television. He said the coup was necessary as "narcotraffickers" planned to "capture Guinean democracy." The transition would last a year, he added.

He named Major General Tomas Djassi as the army chief of staff.

The coup came a day before the announcement of provisional results in the race between Embalo and Fernando Dias, a 47-year-old political newcomer who had emerged as Embalo's top challenger in the presidential vote.

Before the coup, gunfire echoed in the capital, Bissau, for about an hour near the electoral commission headquarters and presidential palace.

Embalo called French media to say he had been deposed.

Heads of state from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS also condemned the coup and later held a virtual meeting to discuss the situation, according to a post on X.

The European Union said the constitutional order should be restored and that the vote count should proceed.

Central Bissau was mostly quiet the day after the coup, with soldiers on the streets. Many residents stayed indoors, even after the overnight curfew lifted. Businesses and banks were closed.

"I'm very concerned about the prevailing situation," Julio Goncalves, a 30-year-old professor and Bissau resident, said.

"No pharmacy is open. If somebody is sick, how can they buy medicine or go to the hospital?"

Before Inta-a's presidency was announced, Dias accused Embalo in a video statement of staging a "false coup attempt" to derail the election because he feared he would lose.

It was the ninth coup in West and Central Africa in five years. Guinea-Bissau is known as a notorious cocaine transport hub with a long history of military interventions in politics.