By Paul Ejime
A joint mission of ECOWAS and the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), has been dispatched “to support national efforts toward peace and stability” in Guinea Bissau.
“The mission is in line with the directive of the 66th Ordinary Session of the Authority of (ECOWAS) Heads of States and Government held on 15th December 2024 in Abuja, Nigeria, to ‘deploy a high-level political mission to the country to support efforts by the political actors and stakeholders toward political consensus on the electoral calendar,’” the ECOWAS Commission said in a statement on Thursday.
The objective is “to accompany Guinea Bissau with the requisite technical support toward a successful electoral cycle and the promotion of peace, security, and stability in the country,” the statement added.
The 23-28 February 2025 Mission is led by Ambassador Bagudu Hirse, Nigeria’s former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and will be joined by Ambassador Kalilou Traore, Ivorian Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, representing the ECOWAS Permanent Representatives Committee, and Ambassador Babatunde Ajisomo, ECOWAS former Representative to Liberia, as Special Adviser to the Head of Mission.
Other members of the joint delegation are Mr Cherno Mamoudu Jallow, a former Senior Political Advisor, Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the DR Congo and the UN Mission, MONUSCO, and Mr. Papa Birame Sene, from the Senegalese Electoral Commission.
A technical team, including Ambassador Ngozi Ukaeje, the ECOWAS Resident Representative in Guinea Bissau, and staff of the Directorate of Political Affairs of the ECOWAS Commission will support the Mission.
The delegation will hold consultations with the government and other critical stakeholders on the political and security developments in the country.
President Embalo assumed office in February 2020 following a disputed December 2019 presidential poll, whose outcome was finally decided by the Supreme Court in September 2020.
His tenure has been characterised by instability and political tensions including two alleged military coups and the government’s dissolution of the national parliament, with the national electoral commission and the Supreme Court in a dysfunctional state.
ECOWAS has a military mission providing a level of stabilisation in the country.
Early this month, a controversially constituted Supreme Court fixed the presidential election in Guinea Bissau for September 2025, explaining that the president’s tenure began after the apex Court ruled in his favour in September 2020, and not February when he took the oath of office.
