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 Fula 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.