The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) have suspended Guinea-Bissau from their decision-making bodies following the coup in the country.
The decision by ECOWAS was made during an emergency meeting of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council (MSC) late Thursday.
In the same vein, the AU through its chairman, Mahamoud Youssouf, also announced the suspension of Guinea-Bissau from its bodies with immediate effect on Friday.
“The MSC decides, in accordance with the provisions of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance 2001 (A/SP/12/01), to suspend Guinea-Bissau from all ECOWAS decision-making bodies until the restoration of full and effective constitutional order in the country,” the statement announcing the decision of the body reads.
The MSC also condemned the coup, calling for the unconditional restoration of constitutional order and rejected any arrangements that subvert the democratic process or the will of the people.
The council demanded that the military leaders respect the electoral process, allow the National Electoral Commission to declare results without delay, and release all detained officials, including President Umaro Embaló, electoral officials and other political figures.
The MSC further asked that the coup leaders guarantee the safe passage of international election observers, including those from ECOWAS.
To facilitate this, ECOWAS announced that a high-level mediation mission would engage the coup leaders.
The mission will include President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo, President José Neves of Cabo Verde and President Bassirou Faye of Senegal, accompanied by the president of the ECOWAS Commission.
On Wednesday, a group of army officers in Guinea-Bissau announced the suspension of the country’s electoral process and declared that they were taking control “until further notice.”
The officials, who described themselves as the “High Military Command for the Restoration of Order,” removed Mr Embalo from power, halted the electoral process, closed the country’s borders and planned to enforce a curfew.
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