Guinea-Bissau junta sets election date following last year’s coup

Guinea-Bissau’s military junta has set a date for new elections following its takeover late last year, according to a statement by the junta’s leader on Wednesday.

In a presidential decree, Gen. Horta Inta-a said the necessary conditions for holding free, fair and transparent elections had been met and the legislative and presidential elections would be held on Dec. 6.

Guinea-Bissau, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been dogged by coups and attempted coups since its independence from Portugal more than 50 years ago, including a coup attempt last October. The country of 2.2 million people is known as a hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, a trend that experts say has fueled its political crises.

After the November coup, the military high command in the West African nation inaugurated former army chief of staff Inta-a as the head of the military government, which will oversee a