Portugal objects to reporters being kicked out of Guinea-Bissau prior to the election
Portugal’s government spoke out against the removal from Guinea-Bissau of two African units of the broadcaster RTP and teams of reporters from the state news service Lusa. This happened just before an election that was supposed to happen in November but was pushed back.
For a meeting on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had “immediately summoned the ambassador of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau in Lisbon for explanations and clarifications.”
“The Portuguese government strongly condemns the decision of the government of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau to order the removal of Lusa, RTP Africa, and RDP Africa from that country and their respective termination of broadcasts,” it said, calling it “highly reprehensible and unjustifiable” .
Guinea-Bissau, which revealed the expulsion in a government decree earlier on Friday, and Portugal did not give any reasons for the move. The journalists’ agents have until August 19 to leave the country.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo of Guinea-Bissau said in March that he would run for a second term, breaking earlier promises that he would step down. This made things more tense because the elections had to be pushed back, as his opponents said that his term had ended in February.
Embalo’s presidential term started in 2020, and there is now a disagreement about when it should end. This has raised tensions, which could lead to trouble in the former Portuguese colony that has a history of military coups.
On August 7, Embalo, who used to be a general in the army, replaced Rui Duarte de Barros as prime minister with Braima Camara. She was the third prime minister since Embalo took office in 2020.
A group of ECOWAS countries sent a political mission in March to help everyone agree on how to run the election. However, they said they had to leave because “H.E. Umaro Sissoco Embalo threatened to expel it.”
The polls for president and the legislature are set for November 23.
