Guinea Bissau: PM accuses mediator Alpha Conde of partiality

The Prime Minister of Guinea Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo on Tuesday accused Guinean president Alpha Conde of partiality in mediating the country’s political crisis with the president. In an interview, the Bissau premier said he is contemplating Conde’s replacement as the mediator.

“If Conde’s mediation does not suit us, we will tell ECOWAS to choose someone else. The role of a mediator is not permanent,” Mr Embalo warned.

The tiny west African state has been in the grip of a power struggle since August 2015, when President Jose Mario Vaz sacked then premier Domingos Simoes Pereira, leader of the ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde.

Another Prime Minister Baciro Ja was named as his replacement in June 2016 but the political and social tensions remained, and later Mr. Embalo was appointed the premier in November 2016.

The Conakry talks set out the ‘consensual’ principle for the choice of a next premier to hold the fort till legislative elections in 2018.