Portugal has moved swiftly to demand answers after Guinea-Bissau ordered the expulsion of reporting teams from state news agency Lusa and two African units of public broadcaster RTP, escalating political tensions ahead of the country’s delayed elections.
A decree issued Friday instructed the journalists to leave by August 19, though neither Bissau nor Lisbon has provided an official explanation. The expulsions come just months before Guinea-Bissau’s rescheduled presidential and legislative elections, set for November 23.
Portugal’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that it has summoned Guinea-Bissau’s ambassador for urgent talks, with a meeting expected on Saturday.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who announced in March his intention to run for a second term despite earlier pledges to step down, has been at the center of a constitutional standoff. Opposition parties argue his mandate expired in February, stoking fears of unrest in the coup-prone West African state.
On August 7, Embalo appointed Braima Camara as prime minister, the third to hold the post since he assumed office in 2020. Earlier this year, an ECOWAS mission deployed to mediate the electoral process was withdrawn after accusing Embalo of threatening to expel its members.
With political uncertainty deepening, Portugal’s latest protest signals growing international concern over Bissau’s democratic stability.
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