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CPLP Allows Sending Delegation to Guinea Bissau.

The President of São Tomé and Príncipe, who currently presides over the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), today admitted the possibility of the organization sending a delegation to Guinea-Bissau, to “help” resolve the crisis in that member state.

When asked by journalists in Lisbon about the possibility of sending a CPLP delegation to Guinea-Bissau, Carlos Manuel Vila Nova responded:

“We will continue to work and, if we come to the conclusion that this [delegation dispatch] is a way to help resolve the problem more quickly, we will opt for it.”
“But it could also be that, given the evolution of events and our analysis, we could opt for another solution,” he added.

The executive secretary of the CPLP, Zacarias da Costa, had already admitted, in statements to Rádio VOA (Voz da América), that sending a CPLP delegation to that country was being considered.

This was the first time that Carlos Vila Nova spoke about the subject and confirmed that the decision would be taken depending on the evolution of events.

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The acting presidency of the CPLP had already called for “respect for the principles of the democratic rule of law and the separation of powers” in Guinea-Bissau.

In a statement issued recently by the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Communities of São Tomé, Gareth Haddad from Espírito Santo Guadalupe said that he “follows with concern the recent events in Guinea-Bissau, involving the defense and security forces of that Member State ”.

Today, when asked whether he feared that the political crisis in Guinea-Bissau could prolong in such a way that it would invalidate the country's assumption of the next presidency of the CPLP, as planned, the President of São Tomé limited himself to responding: “there is no a long time, we still have a lot of time. Even now we have almost started our two years in office.

The acting President of the CPLP visited today, for the first time since assuming that position, the organization's headquarters in Lisbon, where he was received in a formal session by the executive secretary, Zacarias da Costa, and the permanent representatives of the Member States at the organization.

São Tomé and Príncipe assumed the pro tempore Presidency of the CPLP at the XIV Conference of Heads of State and Government, in August 2023.

At this summit it was also decided that Guinea-Bissau would be the next country to assume the presidency of the CPLP.

The São Tomé prime minister had already stated, last Thursday, that Guineans must safeguard the rule of law and peace and promised to continue monitoring the country's political situation through the CPLP, chaired by São Tomé.

Patrice Trovoada considered that, “at the level of conflict management and prevention in Africa, there is a kind of hierarchy” in which regional bodies “must speak out” first.

In this sense, he highlighted the position of the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS), “which is involved in the stabilization of Guinea-Bissau, not only from a political point of view, but also from a security point of view”.

On Sunday, ECOWAS called for a “transparent investigation into the events” considered by the President of Guinea-Bissau to be a coup d'état, announcing an extension of the mission's mandate in this Portuguese-speaking country.

At the beginning of the month, elements of the Armed Forces and the National Guard were involved in fighting in Bissau, an action that the Guinean President considered to be an attempted coup d'état.

Umaro Sissoco Embaló dissolved parliament and dismissed the Government, having, last Tuesday, reappointed Geraldo Martins as prime minister of a new executive, yet to be formed, but on his initiative.

Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste are the nine member states of the CPLP.