The President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, said on Monday he will raise with the United Nations Sanctions Committee the issue of lifting sanctions imposed on the military responsible for the 2012 coup d’état.
“I have a meeting scheduled with the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres and also with the chairman of the Sanctions Committee because the time has come for the sanctions imposed to be lifted and because some of them have already passed away, therefore it makes no sense to maintain them,” Sissoco Embalo said, speaking to journalists at the Osvaldo Vieira international airport in Bissau, moments before leaving for New York, where he will attend the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The UN sanctions committee decided to sanction 11 Bissau-Guinean military officers considered to be key players in the 2012 coup that ousted the then prime minister, Carlos Gomes Junior, from power.
They are banned from travelling outside Guinea-Bissau and their bank accounts have been frozen since 2021.
Among the military officers sanctioned are the former chief of staff of the armed forces, General António Indjai; General Mamadu Turé, current deputy chief of staff; General Ibraima Papa Camará, former chief of staff of the air force and current president of the National Defence Institute; General Estevão Na Mena, inspector general of the armed forces, and Brigadier General Daba Na Walna, president of the Supreme Military Court.
In addition to being on the sanctioned list, General António Indjai, currently in reserve, is the target of an international arrest warrant allegedly issued by the US, which accuses him of “crimes of narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation and conspiracy to acquire and transfer anti-aircraft missiles to FARC rebels in Colombia”.
The US has promised a $5 million reward for anyone who assists in the location and capture of General Indjai.
The Guinean President, who has already refuted any possibility of the general being captured or transferred to the US, said he will take advantage of his stay in Washington to meet with US authorities to address the situation of General António Indjai.
