Guinea-Bissau opposition leader Domingos Simoes Pereira was released from jail on Friday after spending months behind bars following a military coup.

The military leaders imprisoned senior politicians after overthrowing president Umaro Sissoco Embalo and seizing power in November, just days after presidential elections.

The army claimed it had acted to prevent bloodshed between supporters of rival candidates.

Pereira had been barred from standing in the election but his preferred candidate had claimed victory along with Embalo, who subsequently fled the country.

Senegalese minister

Pereira was accompanied to his home on the outskirts of the capital, Bissau, by security forces and the visiting Senegalese defence minister, an AFP journalist saw.

November's coup, which took place before official election results were released, was the fifth military takeover in the coastal West African country since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974.

The military has set December 6, 2026, as the date for new presidential and legislative elections meant to return power to civilians.