The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has suspended the country from all its decision-making organs after the military coup that overthrew the democracy in the country on Wednesday.
The resolution was arrived at during an extraordinary virtual meeting of the Authority of Heads of State and Government and the Mediation and Security Council (MSC), led by President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone. After assessing the level of political instability in Mali, the regional organization invoked the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance to make the suspension.
Under the MSC, “Guinea-Bissau shall remain suspended” until “full constitutional order has been restored” in the state. It was made clear by the ECOWAS that it holds “the coupists or coup leaders personally and collectively responsible” for “citizens, residents, as well as all other detainees”
The military was further asked to ensure the protection and secure evacuation of ECOWAS and other foreign election observer missions. The army was instructed to return to the barracks in order to restore peace while the ESSMGB was instructed to carry on with the protection of state institutions.
ECOWAS stated that it “reserves the right to take further actions based on the 2001 Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group on Good Governance and the 2012 Supplementary Act Relating to Sanctions” against any person considered to disrupt the democratic process.
To tackle the situation, the Authority deployed a high-level mission to mediate in the coup, led by its own chairperson and including the President of Togo, President Faure Gnassingbé; the President of Cabo Verde, President Jose Mario Pereira Neves; Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye; and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Touray. Meanwhile, the coup plotters in Guinea Bissau swore in General Horta N’Tam as the transitional President of the country for a period of one year after the ousting of President Umaro Embaló.
