The African Union (AU) has moved to suspend Guinea-Bissau from all its organs following the coup that ousted President Umaro Embalo.
According to AU chairman Mahamoud Youssouf, the regional body decided “to suspend Guinea-Bissau from its bodies with immediate effect”.
The suspension came just hours after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) also halted the country’s participation in its decision-making organs.
ECOWAS’ Mediation and Security Council (MSC), after an emergency virtual session on Thursday chaired by Julius Maada Bio, resolved that the country be suspended “until the restoration of full and effective constitutional order”.
Military officers seized power on Wednesday, three days after Guinea-Bissau’s disputed presidential and legislative elections. They halted the electoral process, shut the nation’s borders, stopped the release of election results, and installed General Horta N’Tam, the army chief of staff, as leader for a one-year transition.
President Embalo, who was initially detained, eventually fled to Senegal on Thursday. Meanwhile, opposition candidate Fernando Dias — who insists he won the election — told AFP he is “safe” and currently in hiding.
International condemnation has followed swiftly. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres criticized the coup as an “unacceptable violation of democratic principles”.
Guinea-Bissau, located between Senegal and Guinea, has a history marked by instability, having witnessed four coups and several failed attempts since its independence from Portugal in 1974. It also remains one of the world’s poorest nations and a major transit hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe — a trade fueled by persistent political turmoil.
The country now joins Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Sudan, and Madagascar on the list of AU-suspended states, while sanctions against Gabon were lifted in April after its post-coup transition efforts.