ECOWAS Team Leaves Guinea-Bissau After Threat of Expulsion

Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin

A mission from the West African Regional bloc, ECOWAS, has left Guinea-Bissau saying the president had threatened to expel it.

The team was sent to the country last month to help it reach a “political consensus” on how to conduct elections this year.

It said it had "prepared a draft agreement on a roadmap for elections” and had started presenting it to the stakeholders for their consent.

But the team decided to leave early on Saturday morning after President Umaro Sissoco Embalo’s threat.

It says it will now present its report to the ECOWAS president, including a proposal for an agreement leading to "inclusive and peaceful elections".

Embalo has not responded to the bloc's accusation.

There has been heightened tension in the country over when his five-year mandate ends.

The opposition say his term as president expired last week, but the Supreme Court of Justice ruled that it ends on 4 September.

A new round of general elections was due to take place last November, but Embalo postponed them and has since announced they will take place on the 30 November this year.

The opposition has opposed the delay.

Guinea-Bissau has experienced several military coups since independence in 1974, and there have been two attempts to overthrow Embalo, the latest in December 2023.

This led him to dissolve the opposition-dominated parliament.

The opposition last Thursday called for a nationwide strike, on the day they said the president's term was expiring, with the government deploying security forces across the capital.

Embalo travelled to  Moscow the day before where he held talks with Russia President Vladimir Putin, reportedly discussing developing cooperation between the two countries.