The military leaders of Guinea-Bissau have decided to block former President Umaro Sissoco Embalo from returning to the West African country, citing national security concerns and the need to preserve public order.

Embalo, who was toppled in a military coup last November, had planned to return on Sunday and contest a presidential election scheduled for December, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this week

The coup last year came shortly before results from ​presidential and legislative elections were due to be ​announced

The senior army officers who carried it out suspended the electoral process and ⁠installed Major-General Horta Inta-a as transitional president. Embalo has been in exile since then

"It is considered that the necessary security conditions are not yet in place to guarantee the return to national territory of the former President of the Republic, Mr Umaro Sissoco Embalo," a government statement published on Thursday said

Guinea-Bissau approved a new constitution in a referendum in August that expanded presidential powers and changed electoral rules. Among other provisions, it requires presidential candidates to have lived continuously in the country for the preceding five years. It was unclear how that provision might have affected Embalo's candidacy

Guinea-Bissau, a small Portuguese-speaking West African country, has a long history of military coups and is a transit hub for cocaine bound for Europe