Bissau, Guinea-Bissau – Police and the national guard with armoured vehicles were out in force Thursday in Guinea-Bissau’s capital, where the opposition has called for a strike on the day it says the president’s term officially ends.
Security measures were in place at strategic points around Bissau and the situation was calm, an AFP correspondent saw.
Patrols were deployed on main roads and at roundabouts, and armoured vehicles and riot tanks were stationed in the city.
But the sprawling Bandim market was open and taxis were operating as normal.
In some neighbourhoods, parents had opted to keep their children at home rather than sending them to school.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo was sworn in for a five-year term on February 27, 2020, after a disputed election in the small west African nation.
On Sunday, however, he announced that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held only in November.
The opposition, which insists the president’s term expires on Thursday afternoon, called for the country’s “total paralysis” starting on Thursday.
Gatherings have been banned for several weeks by the interior ministry in the run-up to the date.
A high-level mission from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) arrived on Sunday to try to renew political dialogue and was due to hold further meetings on Thursday.
Embalo dissolved the opposition-dominated parliament in December 2023, three days after armed clashes that he said were an attempted coup.
He then set early legislative elections for November 2024, before postponing them indefinitely, citing logistical and financial difficulties.
© Agence France-Presse
