On Friday, Portugal strongly criticized Guinea-Bissau’s move to expel reporting teams from the Portuguese state news agency Lusa and African branches of broadcaster RTP, just months before the West African country’s repeatedly delayed elections in November.
Lisbon’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Guinea-Bissau’s ambassador to explain the decision, describing it as “highly reprehensible and unjustifiable.” Journalists from Lusa, RTP Africa, and RDP Africa were instructed to stop broadcasting and leave the country by August 19, according to a government decree issued earlier in Bissau.
No official reason was given for the expulsions, which come at a time of growing political tension.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, a former army general, backtracked on his earlier promise to step down and announced in March that he would seek a second term. His opponents argue that his mandate ended in February, fueling disputes that threaten to destabilize the former Portuguese colony, which has a long history of coups.
