Guinea-Bissau Junta Vows to Restore the Deposed PAIGC party, Frees Opposition Leader

The Guinea-Bissau military junta is moving to broaden its political base after the Nov 26 coup disrupted presidential and legislative elections, releasing opposition leader Domingos Simoes Pereira while promising an “inclusive” transitional government.

The pivot appears designed to ease pressure from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which suspended Guinea-Bissau on Nov 28 following the swearing in of a general as transitional president and demanded a rapid return to civilian rule.

Army officers styling themselves the Military High Command removed President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on Nov 26 and installed Major-General Horta Inta-a as interim president the following day. It marked the 9th coup in West and Central Africa in five years.

What is Being Promised?

In a weekend letter addressed to ECOWAS, Inta-a outlined plans to allocate three ministerial portfolios to the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) and three to the Party for Social Renewal (PRS), led by Fernando Dias, Embalo’s strongest challenger in the aborted November election. Inta-a also pledged that all political prisoners would be released. But the government has not yet detailed which portfolios would be assigned or how the transitional cabinet would be selected.

The junta confirmed on Friday that Pereira, the former prime minister and PAIGC leader detained since the takeover, had been freed but would remain under house arrest on suspicion of economic crimes. Sources close to the junta told Reuters that Dias had left the Nigerian embassy, where he had sought shelter, and was no longer facing arrest. Neither Pereira nor Dias could be reached for comment.

“Inclusive” Transition, Tight Controls

The military’s outreach follows days of institutional paralysis. Armed men seized ballots and destroyed servers holding vote results, prompting the electoral commission to declare it could not complete the count. A presidential decree last month scheduled fresh presidential and legislative elections for Dec 6, resetting a process interrupted by force.

ECOWAS Pressure Driving Concessions

ECOWAS’s suspension of Guinea-Bissau appears to have been the decisive catalyst behind the junta’s sudden concessions. Cut off from regional legitimacy after Nov 28, the Military High Command moved quickly to soften its posture.

The sequence underscores ECOWAS’s continued leverage in West Africa: isolation from the bloc carries tangible political and economic costs, and the junta’s offer of ministerial portfolios to rival parties reads less as reconciliation than as damage control aimed at easing sanctions pressure and restoring a minimum level of diplomatic acceptance.

A Region on Alert

Guinea-Bissau’s latest upheaval underscores a wider regional trend: nine coups across West and Central Africa in roughly five years, testing ECOWAS’s leverage and the durability of its sanctions toolkit.

For now, the junta is pairing symbolic releases with tightly managed controls. Pereira’s freedom is conditional, Dias’s status rests on assurances relayed through intermediaries, and elections are pushed to Dec 6.

Whether cabinet seats for PAIGC and PRS translate into genuine civilian authority remains unclear. What is visible is a calibrated effort to stabilize the transition, contain external pressure, and reframe the post-coup order around a negotiated, if military-led, political settlement.