Faith Nyasuguta
A mission from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has departed Guinea-Bissau after President Umaro Sissoco Embalo allegedly threatened to expel it. The team had been deployed to help mediate a political dispute over the timing of the country’s delayed general elections.
ECOWAS had sent the mission in February to facilitate discussions on a consensus for holding elections, following the postponement of polls originally scheduled for November 2024. President Embalo has since set a new date of November 30, 2025, but opposition parties have strongly opposed the delay. They argue that Embalo’s five-year term should have ended in February 2025 and have called for his immediate departure. However, Guinea-Bissau’s Supreme Court recently extended his mandate until September 2025, adding to the ongoing tensions.
In a statement issued on Sunday, ECOWAS said its mission had engaged with President Embalo, political figures, and civil society organizations during its time in Guinea-Bissau. The delegation, working in collaboration with the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), had drafted a roadmap aimed at ensuring elections in 2025 and had begun presenting it to key stakeholders for their approval.
However, ECOWAS said its team was forced to leave the country early on March 1 due to threats from President Embalo. The president has not publicly addressed these allegations. The regional bloc stated that it would now present its findings to the ECOWAS leadership, along with recommendations on how to ensure inclusive and peaceful elections in Guinea-Bissau.
The political crisis in Guinea-Bissau has deepened over the past year, with tensions escalating between the president and the opposition. Embalo was elected in December 2019, but his tenure has been marred by instability in a country with a long history of military coups since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974.
The situation worsened in December 2023, when an attempted coup led Embalo to dissolve the opposition-controlled parliament. Last week, opposition leaders called for a nationwide strike to mark what they claimed was the official end of his term. The government responded by deploying security forces across the capital, Bissau, to prevent unrest.
Meanwhile, in late February, Embalo traveled to Moscow for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, raising speculation about his international alliances amid the domestic crisis.
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