October at the Élysée, February in Brussels and now July in Bissau… The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron and the President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo will meet on Thursday July 28 for the third time in less than a month. year. The Guinean leader is preparing to take the helm of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), on the front line once morest the Malian junta.
This event is part of a troubled context for this small country in West Africa, subscribed to political crises. Umaro Sissoco Embalo announced last May the dissolution of Parliament and the calling of early parliamentary elections by the end of the year. And this a few weeks following a new coup attempt, the 1is February, which claimed 11 lives according to the government.
See as well : Guinea Bissau: the country’s political instability illustrated by a new coup attempt
Guinea-Bissau is a former Portuguese colony which became independent in 1974 following a long war of liberation, led by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) founded by Amilcar Cabral, assassinated in 1973 The PAIGC then dominated national politics for a very long time.
A country that has become a hub for drug trafficking
Since the 2014 presidential election, the country has embarked on the path of a return to constitutional order, which has not saved it from chronic turbulence. Tensions persisted following Umaro Embalo was elected president in December 2019. His main opponent, Domingos Simoes Pereira of the PAIGC, never recognized Umaro Embalo’s victory, which was ultimately endorsed by the international community.
See as well : Guinea Bissau takes over the rotating presidency of ECOWAS
Many disagreements opposed Umaro Embalo, 49-year-old reserve general, and Parliament, on the parliamentary immunity of Domingos Simoes Pereira, on the sharing of oil resources on the border with Senegal, on a revision of the Constitution or , recently, on the announcement by ECOWAS of the dispatch of a stabilization force.
The international community has been calling for a new Constitution for a long time, the organization of powers in the current fundamental law being a main factor in the repeated crises. The country needs reform: it is one of the poorest in the world and considered one of the most plagued by corruption.
Instability and poverty have favored the establishment of drug traffickers there, who use the territory to smuggle cocaine from Latin America to Europe, with the suspected complicity of army officials. Umaro Embalo also presented the coup de force of 1is February as directly linked to drug trafficking.
See as well : Guinea-Bissau: exclusive images in the government palace
