Guinea-Bissau’s president has named a new cabinet in a bid to end a two-month political crisis that brought fears of a revival of drug trafficking and instability in the coup-prone West African country.
Reuters reported that the decree issued late on Monday came hours after talks between President Jose Mario Vaz and recently appointed prime minister Carlos Correia, the country’s third prime minister since August, collapsed.
President Muhammadu Buhari has commended President Jose Mario Vaz and the people of Guinea-Bissau for the peaceful resolution of the recent political crisis that left the country without a government for 37 days.
Buhari equally applauded the laudable role played in the resolution of the crisis by his Special Envoy, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who was also adopted by ECOWAS as the regional body’s Special Envoy on the political dispute in Guinea-Bissau.
The President, in a statement by Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, thanked Chief Obasanjo for a job well done and commended the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government for its steadfast commitment to peace, security and progress in Guinea-Bissau and the entire West African region.
He welcomed President Jose Mario Vaz’s acceptance of the solution to the recent political crisis proffered by Chief Obasanjo and congratulated Mr. Carlos Correia on his emergence as the new Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau.
He urged President Vaz and Prime Minister Correia to work together harmoniously to move their country forward as envisaged by authors of the Guinea-Bissau constitution which splits the executive arm of government into the Presidency and the Premiership.
President Buhari implored all stakeholders in the development and progress of Guinea-Bissau to desist from any further actions that can jeopardize the stability of the country and its democratic future.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is to mediate in the unfolding political situation in Guinea Bissau on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari yesterday named Obasanjo as special envoy on the crisis following the dismissal of Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira and his cabinet by President Jose Mario Vaz.
Obasanjo embarked on the first leg of his mission by consulting with the current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Macky Sall of Senegal in Dakar on Thursday.
The consultation was in progress when Pereira was replaced as Prime Minister by Baciro Dja.
President Buhari appealed for calm and asked the authorities in Guinea Bissau to exercise utmost restraint and ensure the maintenance of law and order as efforts continue to resolve the current crisis.
The Guinea Bissau government and the military, according to him, should ensure respect for constitutional order, sanctity of life and safety of citizens, and avoid taking any further action capable of threatening the fragile democratic institutions recently established in the country.
Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr.Femi Adesina, said the President’s intervention was in line with true African solidarity and brotherhood.
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed concerned over the unfolding political situation in Guinea Bissau following the dismissal of the Prime Minister, Mr Domingos Pereira, and his cabinet by President Jose Mario Vaz.
This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina.
It stated that Buhari had already sent former President Olusegun Obasanjo as his Special Envoy to mediate and help find a solution to the crisis brewing in that country.
According to the statement, Buhari’s peace mission is in demonstration of true African solidarity and brotherhood.
The statement maintained that Obasanjo had embarked on the first leg of his mission by consulting with the current Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Macky Sall of Senegal in Dakar on Thursday.
“It is regrettable that while Chief Obasanjo was still consulting with President Sall, President Jose Mario Vaz of Guinea Bissau proceeded to appoint and swear-in a new Prime Minister in the person of Mr Baciro Dja, a development that has worsened the political situation in his country.’’
Buhari appealed for calm and called on the leadership in Guinea Bissau to exercise utmost restraint and ensure the maintenance of law and order as efforts continue to resolve the current crisis.
The president, particularly, urged the leadership in Guinea Bissau, including the military, to ensure respect for constitutional order, sanctity of life and safety of citizens.
He also enjoined them to avoid taking any further action that could threaten the fragile democratic institutions recently established in the country.
Elections that coup-stricken Guinea-Bissau was to have held in May have been postponed after West African leaders prolonged the mandate of its caretaker government by seven months.
Reuters says the delay underscores the challenges faced by transitional authorities in the tiny West African nation – a known narcotics trafficking hub – following a military coup in April 2012 that prompted international partners to freeze aid.
Heads of state from West Africa’s 15-nation ECOWAS bloc extended the transitional period in Guinea-Bissau until December 31, according to a communique issued late on Thursday after a summit in Ivory Coast.
It said ECOWAS was asking transitional President Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo to propose a revised timeline for elections to be held before the end of the year, instead of May as planned.
The former Portuguese colony was thrown into turmoil last year after soldiers ousted interim President Raimundo Pereira and Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior days before an election Gomes Junior was favored to win.
The military junta handed power back to a civilian leadership led by Nhamadjo in May under a deal brokered by ECOWAS, but which was criticized by the United Nations, the European Union and the CPLP grouping of Portuguese-speaking states as dealing too softly with the coup leaders.
