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Envoys from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS met on Monday with Guinea-Bissau’s newly installed military authorities to restate their condemnation of the coup and urge a prompt return to constitutional governance.
The armed forces seized control of the Portuguese-speaking nation last Wednesday, just one day before provisional election results were scheduled for release.
On Saturday, the junta selected a 28-member team — including five military officers and four women — to steer the country, which has long grappled with entrenched drug trafficking.
“We’ve had today very fruitful discussions, both sides have expressed their different concerns”, Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister Timothy Kabba told journalists after the meetings.
Kabba noted that Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, who chairs ECOWAS, “condemned the coup and calls for the immediate restoration of constitutional order”, stressing that this must include “a logical conclusion” to the electoral process.
In response to the coup, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspended Guinea-Bissau from “all decision-making bodies”.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo has reportedly sought refuge in the Republic of Congo, while the junta has named General Horta N’Tam to head the transitional administration, which is expected to run for a year.
Defending their actions, the military authorities claimed they intervened to disrupt an alleged scheme by drug traffickers to plunge the country into instability.
Kabba added that during Monday’s talks, the junta maintained that their intervention was intended “to ensure that they restore order and security in the country”.
Situated between Senegal and Guinea, Guinea-Bissau has experienced four successful coups and several attempted takeovers since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974.
It now joins Burkina Faso, Mali, Madagascar, Niger, and Sudan on the list of countries suspended from the African Union following military seizures of power.
