The Head of the ECOWAS Election Observation Mission to Guinea-Bissau, Ambassador Baba Kamara, on Thursday vowed to remain in the country until all 135 short- and medium-term observers deployed for the November 23 presidential and legislative elections have safely departed, following Wednesday’s military coup.
Kamara, a former Ghanaian High Commissioner to Nigeria and ECOWAS, made the position known while addressing the election monitors assembled in Bissau on November 27.
The senior diplomat said he was earlier offered a seat on the emergency flight that evacuated former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, and his delegation. However, he declined, refusing to abandon observers still stranded in the volatile West African state.
“I had the opportunity to leave with former President Jonathan of Nigeria and his delegation in the limited seats on his special flight, but I cannot leave any observer behind in Guinea-Bissau,” Kamara said, describing his choice as non-negotiable.
Recall that on November 26, the country plunged into turmoil after soldiers toppled President Umaro Sissoco Embaló, detained key officials, enforced a nighttime curfew, suspended electoral procedures, and shut the airport and national borders.
The observers, who were deployed across multiple Guinea-Bissau districts, had returned to the capital for the planned announcement of provisional election results by the National Electoral Commission, CNE, before the coup abruptly derailed proceedings.
Naijaonpoint reports that exchange of gunfire and blockade of major routes were recorded across Bissau for hours after the takeover declaration.
As pressure mounted for regional intervention, the ECOWAS Technical Support Team, led by Ambassador Abdel-Fatua Musah, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security at ECOWAS Commission, concluded arrangements for observers’ evacuation via a charter flight.
The mission comes amid ongoing diplomatic backlash against unconstitutional government changes across West Africa.
On Friday, military authorities reopened the Bissau airport to selected international airlines, including Royal Air Maroc, ASKY Airlines, TAP, EuroAtlantic Airways, Air Côte d’Ivoire, and ASKY Airlines, granting movement clearance only for pre-approved flights.
General Horta Inta-A, formerly head of the Presidential Guard and a reported ally of Embaló, was also sworn in by the junta on Friday as Transitional President to lead the country for one year.
Musah and Musah, in a joint closing statement, thanked observers for their “dedication and sacrifices,” and assured them that guarantees of personal safety and secure transport had been put in place.
Ambassador Kamara and Commissioner Musah also expressed the regional council’s gratitude to the monitors for standing firm despite the crisis.
The council emphasised it had activated all necessary diplomatic, intelligence, and military channels “to protect the life and property of every ECOWAS observer until mission completion.”
They also reassured that observers would be provided secure airport transit before boarding flights back to their home countries.
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