ECOWAS has threatened targeted sanctions against individuals obstructing the process of returning the country to constitutional order
West Africa’s main political and economic bloc, ECOWAS, has rejected a proposed transition roadmap put forward by Guinea-Bissau’s military leaders after last month’s coup, demanding a swift return to constitutional rule and warning it could impose sanctions.
Guinea-Bissau’s military seized power on November 26, three days after disputed elections in which ousted President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and his main challenger, Fernando Dias da Costa, both claimed outright victory. Soldiers swore in Major-General Horta Inta-a as interim president, under a Military High Command installed to run the country, and later appointed Ilidio Vieira Te, a civil servant and former finance minister, as prime minister.
Read more Guinea-Bissau president flees after post-election coupLast week, the military government published a 29-article transitional charter laying out a 12-month framework that would see presidential and legislative polls at the end of the period. Under the charter, a 65-member National Transition Council, including ten senior military officers, would act as a legislative body. The document also proposes sweeping legal and institutional changes, including revisions to the suspended constitution and changes to electoral bodies.
In a communique issued at its annual summit in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on Sunday, ECOWAS said the Bissau-Guinean military government’s plan did not meet regional requirements for restoring civilian authority. It called for the immediate release of political detainees and urged an inclusive, short-term transition process that would culminate in elected government.
“The authority shall impose targeted sanctions on individuals or groups of persons that obstruct the transition process or that obstruct the process of returning the country to constitutional order,” according to the statement read by ECOWAS Commission President Omar Touray.
Read more Why this country became a test case for global power shiftsThe authority said it had tasked its chair to lead a high-level delegation to Guinea-Bissau to negotiate terms for restoring constitutional order. The bloc has suspended Guinea-Bissau from its decision-making bodies and reiterated its “zero tolerance for unconstitutional change of government.”
ECOWAS has grappled with a wave of military takeovers in recent years that its chairman, Julius Maada Bio, said are “a major threat to regional stability.” Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, now ruled by military leaders, have withdrawn from the bloc due to tensions. Pressure has also grown after a failed coup attempt in Benin this month, which authorities said was thwarted with support from regional troops.
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