Umaro Sissoco Embaló

Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embaló (born 23 September 1972) is a Bissau-Guinean politician and former military officer who served as the sixth president of Guinea-Bissau from 2020 until he was deposed in a coup d'état in 2025. A member of the Madem G15 party, Embaló served as the 18th prime minister under President José Mário Vaz from 2016 to 2018.

Born to a Muslim Fulani family in Bissau, Embaló was educated at the Technical University of Lisbon in Portugal and the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain, graduating from both universities with a bachelor's degree in political science and a doctorate in international relations from the Complutense University. Embaló then joined the Bissau-Guinean Army and underwent training in Belgium, Israel, South Africa, Japan, and France. Before his political career, Embaló taught in African and Middle-Eastern affairs and in matters of defence, international co-operation and development.

In 2016, Embaló entered politics and joined the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the then ruling party. Later in that year he was appointed prime minister by President Vaz. During this time, a dispute between Embaló and the PAIGV grew to the point that two years later in 2018, he left the party and formed the Madem G15 party and also resigned as prime minister. In the November 2019 presidential election, Embaló ran for president and won the election. He was sworn in as president in February of the following year.

During his presidency, Guinea-Bissau saw the retreat of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) troops stationed in the country after the 2012 coup and attempted to arrange official visits from foreign heads of government, including the first visit from the Portuguese government in three decades, and international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund. In 2022, Embaló survived a coup attempt, labelling the attempt as a "threat to democracy". Despite this however, opposition figures criticised Embaló's rule as increasingly authoritarian, as Embaló dissolved parliaments which were dominated by the opposition twice during his presidency; one in 2022, and another in 2023, following clashes between government forces and the National Guard, during which the opposition criticised Embaló for attempting to carry a constitutional coup and consolidate power.

In September 2024, Embaló said that he will not run for re-election. However, two months later in November, Embaló said that he would remain president beyond 2030 after calls from supporters to remain in office. In March 2025, Embaló stated that he would run for re-election. However, the opposition criticised the expiration of his term as it was originally set to end on 27 February 2025; however, the Constitutional Court set it to 4 September, in which Embaló remained in office way beyond that date. Elections were held in November 2025, around one year after the original date, with both Embaló and the opposition Independent candidate Fernando Dias da Costa declaring victory.

On 26 November 2025, hours before the official results of the general election were announced, a coup occurred with officers from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People seizing power and subsequently detaining Embaló. He thus became the fourth president to be deposed in a coup, after Luís Cabral, João Bernardo Vieira, and Kumba Yala, and was also the second president to not come from the PAIGC party, after Kumba Yala. Throughout his presidency, Embaló stated that his governing style is that of "Embaloism", which he defines as "order, discipline, and development", asserting that "there is neither small state nor small president" and has compared himself to leaders like Lee Kuan Yew and Rodrigo Duterte.