The Situation in Guinea Bissau

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), at its 163rd meeting held at the ministerial level, on 22 December 2008, adopted the following decision on the situation in Guinea Bissau:

Council,

1. Takes note of the briefing by the Commission following the evaluation mission of the Special Envoy of the Chairperson of the Commission to Guinea Bissau, and his consultations with the Senegalese and Burkina Faso authorities;

2. Condemns, once again, the attack perpetrated on 23 November 2008 on the residence of President João Bernardo Vieira;

3. Deplores that, despite the proper conduct of the legislative elections of 16 November 2008, which all international observers, including the AU observers, considered satisfactory, the attack on 23 November 2008 undermines the ongoing democratic process in Guinea Bissau;

4. Welcomes the fact that the political parties in the country that had deemed it necessary, following the elections on 16 November 2008, decided to resort to legal means to address their complaints. To this end, Council invites the political parties concerned to scrupulously respect the final results to be announced by the Constitutional Court;

5. Expresses its supports to the President of the Republic and encourages him, as well as the entire political class, to embark upon the formation of a new National Assembly, as well as a new Government, on the basis of the final results of the legislative elections of 16 November 2008, thereby re-establishing normalcy in the political life of the country;

6. Expresses its concern over the drug trafficking and calls on the Bissau Guinean authorities to cooperate with the international community in the fight against this scourge;

7. Commends ECOWAS for its initiatives in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of President João Bernardo Vieira and the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government meeting in Abuja on 19 December 2008 for the strategies it adopted on Guinea Bissau. Council endorses these strategies and requests the Chairperson of the Commission to take appropriate measures to provide AU support towards their implementation;

8. Urgently appeals to Member States as well as to AU’s bilateral and multilateral partners to assist Guinea Bissau in the reorganisation of the security services, in particular those in charge of the security of the President of the Republic and of the leaders of the country’s key-institutions by providing security advisers and appropriate equipment for members of the said services;

9. Decides to remain seized of this matter.

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