Guinea Bissau: Talks Stalled, ECOWAS Imposes Sanctions Against Military Junta

By

Sanctions against the military junta in power Guinea Bissau since last April 12 were imposed Monday by the Economic Community of West African countries (ECOWAS ).

Meeting in Banjul, the capital of Gambia, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the ECOWAS contact group considered insufficient openings made ​​so far by the junta deemed invalid and a transition triggered by an agreement between the military and the opposition.

In Banjul, representing the junta was chief of army staff Antonio Indjai. According to a statement from ECOWAS, he “did not seem willing to negotiate clearly preferring to face the consequences.”

The penalties follow by a few days the release of former interim president, Raimundo Pereira, and former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior: the two men were arrested in the hours immediately after the coup and are now in Ivory Coast where they arrived last Friday night. The release had occurred the day after the decision by ECOWAS to send troops in Guinea Bissau which, it is not yet clear, how and when they arrive.

In support of the military personnel are in fact some opposition parties and some candidates in the presidential elections. An opposition candidate defeated in the elections, Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo, has been appointed President of the transition – a process that ECOWAS has repudiated – while the number two of the Party of Social Renewal (PRS), Ibraima Sory Djalo , has been chosen to lead the Council national transition (CNT).

The PRS is also the party represented by Koumba Yala, another presidential candidate who was supposed to challenge , in the runoff of April 29 (cancelled due to the coup) Carlos Gomes Junior, an official candidate of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau (PAIGC).

MISNA

MISNA, or the Missionary International Service News Agency, provides daily news ‘from, about and for’ the 'world’s Souths', not just in the geographical sense, since December 1997.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *