South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has praised the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for its “decisive” anti-coup strategy after the arrival of a vanguard stabilisation force in Bissau.
Ramaphosa said this on Thursday after a meeting with Umaro Sissoco Embalo, president of Guinea-Bissau.
Since August 2020, the military has seized power in three West African countries, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali, through coups. All three countries have been suspended from ECOWAS bodies.
At a joint press conference with his Guinea-Bissau counterpart, Ramaphosa added, “The determination and capacity to decide on the part of the governing bodies of ECOWAS is remarkable and is a very good example for the rest of the continent.”
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Bissau in February witnessed what President Umaro Cissoco Embalo described as a failed coup attempt that left 11 people dead.
Three days later, ECOWAS announced the creation of a support force to stabilise the country.
“ECOWAS has found a solution. In Guinea-Bissau, I have ECOWAS troops. We will do the same in other countries,” Embalo said alongside the South African president.
Asked by AFP in Bissau, Lieutenant Usmane Kuyate, spokesman for the Guinea-Bissau army, confirmed the arrival of a vanguard of the ECOWAS force.
Guinea-Bissau has since its independence from Portugal in 1974, it has seen a string of coups, both military and non-military, the last of which was successful in 2012.
SOURCE: africanews.com
