BISSAU GUINEA
AFRICA – “We must tell the truth to President Alpha,” said Umarou Sissoko Embalo
It smells of tension between Guinea-Bissau President Umarou Sissoko Embalo and his Guinean counterpart Alpha Condé. For good reason, the Head of State of Guinea-Bissau went directly against Alpha Condé, whom he blamed for the arbitrary decision to close its borders with Senegal, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau. He made remarks on the sidelines of the 46th session of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council on Saturday 19 June in Accra.
It was hot between the Bissau-Guinean and Guinean presidents Umarou Sissoko Embalo and Alpha Conde. On the occasion of the signing of a military memorandum of understanding between Alpha Condé and Macky Sall on Saturday 19 June in Ghana, the President of Guinea-Bissau openly attacked his Guinean counterpart who closed his borders with Senegal, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau. A decision deemed abnormal by the Head of State of Guinea-Bissau for whom it is a real abuse of power because the countries in question are not in the dynamics of an armed conflict.
Umarou Sissoko Embalo is also totally opposed to the signing of this memorandum of understanding between Dakar and Conakry. He said that it was out of the question for him to delegate ministers to sign this kind of agreement that does not hide the casual behaviour, according to him, of Alpha Condé. “There is no war between Senegal and Guinea… We must tell the truth to President Alpha. He had no right to close the borders with Senegal, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone. I will never send ministers to sign these types of agreements,’ he said openly before the Ghanaian head of state, Nana Akufo Addo, president of the ceremony, took his word from him in a firm tone.
Remember that Alpha Condé and Umarou Cissoko Embalo have been in trouble for several months. Indeed, the Head of State of Guinea-Bissau was totally opposed to the third mandate of Alpha Condé as head of Guinea. Moreover, he refused to congratulate him after his victory in the first round and called the third presidential term a “coup d’état” at the ECOWAS Heads of State Summit in August 2020.
Conakry also closed its borders with Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone in late September 2020, just before the presidential election. Several official sources cited “security reasons” and “possible destabilization operations” conducted from the outside in the electoral context. For the moment, the situation is settling down with Freetown, the Sierra Leonean capital. It will soon be with Dakar but the situation remains tense with the central power of Bissau given the current posture of the two leaders.
On 9 December 2024, the President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, had a very eventful week in the French capital. A stop at the Invalides, a participation in the symbolic reopening of the Notre-Dame cathedral and, to top it all off, a working lunch with Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée. The highlight of his visit to Paris. No. Obviously, he had not come to contemplate (only) the newly renovated gargoyles of Notre-Dame.
Two countries, a common priority
After a remarkable arrival on Saturday, one could even say that among the heads of state in Paris this weekend, the Bissau-Guinean head of state, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, was the guest “star” – of course far behind Elon Musk (more than a head of state) and Donald Trump. He shook hands, hugged, poured a few words into each other’s ears, multiplied official and unofficial meetings. During his working lunch with Emmanuel Macron, he reminded France that Guinea-Bissau does exist, even if it is not francophone. But we’re not going to be talking about such a trivial detail, because this is the first meeting of its kind between the two leaders. This is a testament to the strong ties that unite these two countries as they go beyond language barriers. We do not need to speak the same language to find strategic priority points for the development of key sectors in each of our countries.
France-Guinea-Bissau, Keyword: cooperation
The lunch included discussions on energy transition, strengthening health and education systems, cultural development and regional security. Among the projects envisaged, the construction of a French high school in Guinea-Bissau represents a major step forward for the country’s youth. Umaro Sissoco Embalo believes that this bilateral cooperation is part of a strategy for stability and sustainable development. Increasingly, the Guinean president Bissau has been very present on the international stage since 2020. Chairman of the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), Embalo is a key interlocutor for western partners.
Embalo, not a fan of language
Umaro Sissoco Embalo has a quality, which could sometimes become a defect. This career military is a real African patchwork. As much as it allows him not to go unnoticed, it can be an obstacle in terms of diplomacy. Son of a corporal, descendant of Malian and Guinean lineages, Embalo embodies an Africa with plural identities. Frank, direct and without filter, his style is at odds with traditional diplomatic codes. Polyglot, he easily juggles between Portuguese, French, English and Spanish, which gives him a rare ease on the international scene. Embalo fully accepts this singularity that makes it almost impossible to do without him during the big meetings, despite the smallness of his country. Hence his presence in Paris for the reopening of Notre-Dame and his exchanges with Emmanuel Macron testify to this ambition.
Oil-filled speeches on bilateral cooperation
Although Guinea-Bissau is not a francophone country, it remains a key African partner for France. This working lunch in the Élysée marks an important step in strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries. For Embaló, it is not only a question of securing partnerships that are beneficial to his country, but also of consolidating his stature as an African leader committed to regional stability issues. That neither the size of a country nor the number of its inhabitants are an obstacle: it is enough to have charisma, substance, like Embalo.
After the recent coups d’état in the Republic of Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso, another West African country saw its president escape yesterday Tuesday, February 01, 2022, to an attempt to push, Guinea Bissau.
Umaro Sissoco Embalo, the President of Guinea-Bissau, a former general who arrived in 2020, escaped a coup attempt on Tuesday. For several hours, in the afternoon, shots were heard outside the presidential palace.
President Embalo, Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam, the members of the government and the chiefs of the army had met for an extraordinary council of ministers in the government palace when they were surprised by men in arms with motives still unknown. But for President Emballo, “it can be the fact of those who are against the decisions I have made, especially in the fight against drug trafficking and corruption».
Guinea-Bissau, with a population of about two million, borders Senegal and Guinea. He has known four putschs since his independence from Portugal in 1974.
The boss of the Bissau-Guinean army announced on Thursday, October 14, 2021, that he had thwarted the preparations for a coup d’état. He said that he identified military personnel who wanted to overturn the constitutional order.
The statement was made on Thursday by the Chief of the General Staff of the Army Biagué Na Ntan. We have managed to identify a group of FARP (People’s Revolutionary Armed Forces) soldiers who are mobilizing soldiers by buying their conscience against banknotes in order to subvert the established constitutional order,’ he said. A statement on the occasion of the celebration of the 47th anniversary of the creation of the National Military Police.
These events occurred as President Umaru Sissoco Embalo left Bissau the capital for a 48-hour working visit.
Since independence in 1974, Guinea Bissau has experienced four putschs. The first disturbance to the constitutional order dates back to April 12, 2012. It was led by the army, commanded by General Mamadu Ture Kuruma, Vice Chief of Staff, following the first round of a contested presidential election, won at the time by Carlos Gomes Junior.
In all, the country has been the scene of sixteen attempts at a coup d’état and many changes of government with a political landscape that is sometimes unstable and turbulent.
As a reminder, Guinea-Bissau is a former Portuguese colony. It has been independent for 47 years after a long war of liberation. This struggle was led by Amilcar Cabral, a politician from Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands. He is the founder of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which led to the independence of these two states colonized by Portugal.
