The African Union has suspended Guinea-Bissau following the military coup that removed President Umaro Sissoco Embalo from power.
The suspension was announced on Friday by AU Peace and Security Council chair Mahamoud Youssouf, who confirmed that the country was barred from all AU activities with immediate effect.
The decision came only hours after ECOWAS also suspended Guinea-Bissau from its decision-making bodies.
ECOWAS’ Mediation and Security Council reached the decision late Thursday during an emergency virtual meeting chaired by Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio.
ECOWAS said the suspension would remain in place until full constitutional order is restored.
It referenced the 2001 Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, which mandates sanctions when elected governments are toppled.
Military officers seized power on Wednesday, three days after the country’s disputed presidential and legislative elections.
Troops suspended the electoral process, shut the borders, blocked the announcement of results, and installed the army chief of staff, General Horta N’Tam, as transitional leader for a one-year period.
Embalo, who was briefly detained after the coup, fled to Senegal on Thursday. Opposition candidate Fernando Dias, who has claimed victory in the halted election, told AFP he is safe but remains in hiding inside the country.
The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, condemned the military takeover, describing it as an unacceptable attack on democratic norms. International partners have expressed concern that the coup risks deepening instability in a nation already burdened by chronic political tension and economic hardship.
Guinea-Bissau, bordered by Senegal and Guinea, has a long history of political volatility. Since independence from Portugal in 1974, the country has experienced four successful coups and several failed attempts.
Election outcomes are frequently disputed, and state institutions remain fragile.
The small West African nation is also known as a major transit hub for cocaine trafficking from Latin America to Europe, a trade strengthened by years of instability and weak governance.
With this suspension, Guinea-Bissau joins other countries recently penalised by the AU for unconstitutional changes of government, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Sudan, and Madagascar.
Sanctions were lifted on Gabon in April after its transitional authorities met AU conditions following the removal of President Ali Bongo.
The AU and ECOWAS have both called for calm and urged the military leadership to commit to a credible return to democratic rule.
