A high-level mediation delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met Monday with Guinea-Bissau’s transitional leaders in an attempt to discuss a peaceful end to the current political crisis in the wake of last week’s military coup in the country.
Led by Julius Maada Bio, Sierra Leone’s president and the bloc’s chairman, the mediators met with authorities led by transitional President Gen. Horta Inta-A.
Both sides told reporters in the capital Bissau after a closed meeting that they "held constructive discussions."
Bio maintained the organization’s stance condemning the seizure of power by the military and called for the immediate restoration of constitutional order and resumption of the electoral process.
Joao Bernardo Vieira, Guinea-Bissau’s transitional foreign minister, said the meeting was “very productive.”
Transition proposal
He announced that a one-year transition proposal would be submitted to an ECOWAS summit scheduled for December 14 in Abuja, Nigeria, where the transition roadmap will be determined.
ECOWAS suspended Guinea-Bissau last Thursday from its decision-making bodies following the military coup that ousted President Umaro Sissoco Embalo.
While in Bissau, the mediators also met with electoral officials to find out whether they would be in a position to release the results of the presidential election.
But the UN representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Simao, said the country’s National Electoral Commission said it is not in a position to publish the outcome of the presidential and legislative elections as demanded by ECOWAS because it did not gather all the results.
The mediation mission will present a report to the heads of state, who will make a decision.
Rivals claimed victory
Last Wednesday, in a statement broadcast on state television, a group of military officers identifying themselves as the "High Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order" announced that they had "assumed full powers of the state."
The coup was staged as independent candidate Fernando Dias and incumbent President Embalo’s camps both claimed victory in the November 23 presidential election as the country awaited the official results.
