The African Union has suspended Guinea-Bissau from participating in the organization’s activities, saying last week’s coup, following a contested presidential election, was an unconstitutional transfer of power. Meanwhile, former president Umaro Sissoco Embalo has fled to the Republic of Congo. Both Embalo and opposition candidate Fernando Dias had claimed victory in the Nov. 23 election.
As Chris Olaoluwa Ògúnmọ́dẹdé wrote in WPR in 2021, the African Union has proven largely ineffective in mediating conflict, or reversing illegal power grabs, on the continent. The AU’s ineffectiveness as a crisis manager partly reflects the principles embedded in its governing framework, which gives deference to national sovereignty. “In order to overcome these limitations and to improve upon its mandate, member states must agree to weaken provisions limiting the AU’s interventions in national and regional affairs, and the AU would need to update its policies on unconstitutional changes of government, something regional heavyweights like Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt are unlikely to agree to,” Ògúnmọ́dẹdé wrote.
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