ECOWAS Meets, Threatens Sanctions Over Guinea-Bissau Coup

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Sunday threatened “targeted sanctions” on anyone obstructing Guinea-Bissau’s return to civilian rule following November’s coup.

ECOWAS issued this threat after the Presidents of the West African regional bloc met in Nigeria for a bi-annual meeting whose agenda was dominated by two recent coup attempts: a successful military takeover in Guinea-Bissau and a failed putsch in Benin.

New Telegraph reports that the disruptions of civilian rule in Guinea-Bissau and the Benin Republic have rattled the regional bloc, which condemned both at Sunday’s summit.

Speaking on Sunday, the ECOWAS Commission President, Omar Alieu Touray, said, “The authorities shall impose targeted sanctions on individuals or groups of persons that obstruct the transition process.”

Touray added that the ECOWAS peacekeeping force deployed in Guinea-Bissau, a small, coup-prone West African country, since 2022, was “authorised… to provide protection to all political leaders and national institutions”.

The failed putsch in Benin saw Nigeria deploy fighter jets and troops, alongside soldiers from the Ivory Coast, to shore up the civilian government. ECOWAS has said more soldiers are on their way from Ghana and Sierra Leone.

ECOWAS was previously hit with a string of coups between 2020 and 2023 in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Niger — all of whom are still under junta control.

Sunday’s summit was organised before the two recent coup attempts. But both were high on the agenda, as were the December 28 elections in Guinea.

Junta leader Mamady Doumbouya ran for office there despite an earlier promise not to, and exiled opposition leader and former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo has been excluded from the polls.

Touray nevertheless said ECOWAS hailed Guinea’s polls as “significant progress” in the “transition process”.

When pressed on whether Guinea’s vote will be credible, Touray told reporters: “We hope that the elections will be credible, transparent and fair.”

Also under discussion was security in the Sahel region, where jihadist groups are waging insurgencies in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.

Under junta rule, the three countries left ECOWAS and formed their own group, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

Last week, Touray called for negotiations with the AES over shared security concerns as the conflict continues to spread south.

“No border can insulate us from violence,” Sierra Leone President Julius Bio, who currently holds ECOWAS’s rotating chairmanship, said during Sunday’s summit.

Heads of state from Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, suspended after their military takeovers, were not present at the summit.

President Bola Tinubu was not in attendance and was instead represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

In addition to military takeovers, democratic backsliding has also dogged civilian governments in West Africa.

In October, the Ivory Coast elected President Alassane Ouattara to a fourth term in an election that saw his rivals barred.