Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embaló has said the former army chief will not be handed over to the United States where he is wanted for alleged drug-trafficking offences.

Last week, the US authorities announced a $5m (£3.7m) bounty for information leading to the arrest of Antonio Indjai.

“No Guinean citizen will be brought to justice in another country,” the AFP news agency quotes the president as saying.

The general could move around as he pleased, he added.

News of the bounty has been greeted with anxiety by the army, local media reports.

The US authorities indicted Gen Indjai in 2013 on accusations of plotting to traffic cocaine and sell weapons to Colombian rebels.

The US state department says he has been subjected to a UN travel ban since May 2012 because of his participation in a coup that year.