Guinea Bissau’s political rivals have agreed to a road map that includes the formation of a new consensus government in efforts to end a year-long political crisis in the West African country.
The crisis began following President Jose Mario Vaz’s dismissal of prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira in August last year, paralyzing the country’s political institutions.
The United Nations warned that the continued crisis might attract extremist terror groups seeking to gain a foothold in the West African region as well as drug traffickers.
Guinea Bissau has experienced nine coups or attempted coups since 1980.
A team of mediators from regional bloc ECOWAS, led by neighbouring Guinea’s President Alpha Conde and Sierra Leone’s Ernest Bai Koroma, spent Saturday in talks with stakeholders in the capital Bissau.
“The (parties consulted) have all shown their support for the plan proposed by mediators,” said Guinea’s government late on Saturday, after meetings with the president, prime minister, PAIGC as well as the main opposition party PRS.
“The signals being sent are reassuring that the crisis in Guinea Bissau is beginning to ease,” the statement said.
