Nigeria will deploy troops to Guinea Bissau by May 18, Defence Minister Bello Haliru Mohammed said Monday at the opening of a meeting of military officials from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS in Abuja.
Guinea-Bissau's coup leaders released the country's ousted premier Carlos Gomes Junior and its interim president, Raimundo Pereira (pictured), on Friday after more than two weeks of detention and allowed the men to leave for Ivory Coast.
Meeting at an extraordinary summit in Ivory Coast, the ECOWAS regional bloc vowed to send troops to Mali and Guinea-Bissau, both hit by recent military coups, to ensure a return to civilian rule.
Marc Perelman meets Ambassador Johnnie Carson, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. They discuss the crises that have recently erupted in Africa, particularly in Sudan, Mali and Guinea-Bissau. South Sudan's president says its northern neighbour has ”declared war'' on the world's newest nation, hours after Sudanese jets dropped eight bombs onto South Sudan on Tuesday.
Guinea-Bissau's junta backtracked from its plan for a two-year transition to democracy on Saturday following threats of UN sanctions while the candidate picked to lead the country turned down the role, describing it as an "illegal appointment".
A summit of six West African heads of state on the political crisis in Guinea-Bissau following the April 12 coup has been cancelled, according to the Guinean foreign minister. The meeting was due to take place in Conakry on Monday.
The international community is in uproar over another coup d'etat in Guinea Bissau. On top of its political problems, the country has also become a hotbed for drug trafficking. Next, a rare glimpse behind closed doors at negotiations for the new government of Mali. Finally, the return of a legend as South Africa’s Nobel laureate, Nadine Gordimer, releases her first book in seven years.
Guinea-Bissau's new military rulers and opposition parties agreed to a two-year transitional period before presidential and legislative elections, excluding the former president and confirming the dissolution of pre-coup institutions.
Guinea-Bissau’s military chiefs closed the country’s air and sea space on Monday, declaring that any violations would be met with military action, but said they would allow a convoy of ECOWAS officials in for talks later in the week.
Guinea-Bissau’s military and the opposition announced Sunday they would set up a National Transitional Council, dissolving all existing institutions. Details are set to be hammered out at a new meeting Monday.
