Today, Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded for the first time to the unconstitutional dissolution of the National People’s Assembly of Guinea-Bissau, breaking the silence to disavow the statements of the Speaker of Parliament, who accused Portugal of complicity in what is happening in Bissau. .
“The Portuguese government denounces the statements made by the President of the National People’s Assembly of the Republic of Guinea Bissau regarding Portugal’s position on the current political crisis in the country,” a note to the media sent by the ministry said.
Domingos Simões Pereira, leader of the PAI-Terra Ranka coalition, which won elections with an absolute majority in June, said on Tuesday, citing Losa, that the Guinean president, Umaru Sissoko Ompalo, “is bringing up talks with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, with Prime Minister António Costa.” And with the authorities [portuguesas]”, with the intention of “raising some parallel with what is happening in Portugal” – “If it is normal in Portugal, it is normal in Guinea Bissau.”
For Domingos Simões Pereira, “If the Portuguese authorities hear this signal and are not keen to denounce this reality and distance themselves from it, they become complicit in what is currently happening in Guinea Bissau.” They end up being used by Embalo “instead of contributing to promoting stability and building democratic institutions.”
The multinational corporation ensures that “Portugal has cooperated with all Guinean institutions and authorities” in order to help “promote stability, democracy and the rule of law” and “promote development” in Guinea-Bissau. They have done so “continuously”, whether within the framework of the United Nations, the European Union or the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries, always “respecting” the “full sovereignty” of Guinea-Bissau.
Regarding the current political crisis in Guinea Bissau, the Portuguese diplomat says that she has “closely followed the recent events” in Guinea Bissau, and always hopes that “Guinean institutions, in respect of the constitutional order, will find the necessary solutions to resolve the crisis.” “Get beyond the current moment we are living in the country.”
Last month, both the Portuguese government and President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa attended the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Guinea-Bissau’s independence, an official celebration that Amr Sissoko Embalo began celebrating on Armed Forces Day (16 November), instead of 24 September. , the actual date of the declaration of independence, only to avoid the emergence of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (which it was he who won). The President and Prime Minister never tired of praising the Guinean president when they received him on a state visit in October. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa even awarded him the Grand Order of Infante de Henrique and praised the “stable coexistence” achieved by Embalo.
As Carlos Sangremán, a researcher at ISEG’s Center for African and Development Studies, told PÚBLICO in October, “Embalo’s mandate was fruitful in persecuting his main opponent, Domingos Simões Pereira. He even went so far as not to allow him to come to Lisbon to obtain Ph.D. It was the Portuguese embassy that confirmed the conditions with the Catholic University so that this could be done remotely.”
The June elections – by giving an absolute majority to the PAI-Terra Ranka coalition that includes his main rival (Simões Pereira) and by leaving his G15 Madem party without support to form a government – appear to have opened the way to further progress. A path to coexistence, although the signal made by Madim at the end of September, when he asked the president to dissolve Parliament just over a month after the government came to power, already seemed to indicate that the situation may not be permanent.
Indeed, as the director of the Guinean newspaper told PÚBLICO on Tuesday DemocratAntonio Naga, “Since the formation of the new government, the plan to overthrow it has been coordinated and designed.”
“The entire population knew that there was an internal crisis of coexistence between the President of the Republic and the President of the National People’s Assembly” and “there was talk throughout the country that the government would fall one day or another.”
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