Guterres calls for respect for democracy in Guinea-Bissau

UN Secretary-General António Guterres today called for "full respect for democratic institutions" in Guinea-Bissau, shortly after it emerged that there is an attempted coup in the African country.

In a statement issued in New York, Guterres said he was "deeply concerned" by the news from Bissau, where it is unclear whether the coup plotters have seized power.

The secretary-general's spokesman, Farhan Haq, said afterwards that Guterres' immediate reaction shows the UN's commitment to democracy and against what Guterres has previously called a "coup epidemic" on the African continent, where at least five successful coups have already taken place since the beginning of 2021.

Regarding the latest one, which took place last week in Burkina Faso, the UN special representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Annadif Mahamat Saleh, has just finished a mission to Ouagadougou, which he carried out with the foreign ministers of the Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in recent days.

The spokesman said Saleh was able to meet with the deposed president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, "who is well", and with the new coup authorities, to whom he asked for Kabore's unconditional release and a return to constitutional order.

ECOWAS last week suspended Burkina Faso's membership, while today it condemned the coup attempt in Bissau and said the military is "responsible for the physical integrity of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and members of the government".