Guinea-Bissau Expels Portuguese Media Outlets

The government of Guinea-Bissau announced on Friday that it was expelling two major Portuguese news agencies from the country, a decision promptly condemned by Lisbon.

The West African Portuguese-speaking nation did not provide further explanation, but the measure will affect the news agency Lusa and the public broadcaster RTP. Their programming has been suspended, and their representatives have been instructed to leave the country by Tuesday, according to a note from the Ministry seen by AFP.

Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was scheduled to attend a ceremony in Lisbon on Monday marking his tenure as the rotating president of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), will no longer participate, according to the Guinea-Bissau chapter of the organisation.

The Portuguese government strongly condemned the expulsions, describing the action as “highly reprehensible and unjustifiable” within the framework of bilateral relations. Lisbon also announced that it had summoned Guinea-Bissau’s ambassador for a meeting on Saturday to seek an explanation. “Portugal will do everything possible to reverse this decision,” it added.

The expulsion, according to Guinea-Bissau’s Foreign Minister Carlos Pinto Pereira, is “a government decision”. Speaking to journalists, he said, “We will provide the reasoning behind this decision at a press briefing, probably tomorrow (Saturday). We have received the reactions of the Portuguese government. We will address it in an appropriate forum.”

Guinea-Bissau, one of the world’s poorest countries and notorious for corruption, has experienced a succession of coups since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974. President Embalo was originally elected in December 2019 for a five-year term and had stated he would serve only once. However, he postponed the upcoming election to November of this year, prompting months of political turmoil and accusations that he was clinging to power beyond the end of his mandate.

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