ECOWAS to sanction Guinea-Bissau coup enablers, orders speedy transition

Leaders and representatives of member states attend the 68th Ordinary Session of the Economic Community of West African States in Abuja. | Credit: Stephen Angbulu.

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The Economic Community of West African States, on Sunday in Abuja, resolved to impose targeted sanctions on individuals and groups abetting the unconstitutional change of government in Guinea-Bissau.

It also called for a speedy transition led by an inclusive government and the immediate release of all political detainees.

Reading the communiqué of the 68th Ordinary Session in Abuja, ECOWAS Commission President Dr Omar Alieu Touray warned that “Failure to comply…the authority shall impose targeted sanctions on individuals or groups of persons that obstruct the transition process or that obstruct the process of returning the country to constitutional order.”

”If dialogue fails, our text provides sanctions, and those sanctions, the communique will indicate that sanctions are on the table and they will be applied to any institution or any person found to be contributing to found to be working against efforts to return the country to constitutional order,” he added.

Touray said the authority rejects the military leadership’s transition programme and has authorised the ECOWAS Military Mission in Guinea-Bissau to protect political leaders and national institutions.

Sunday’s decision comes weeks after the latest episode of democratic backsliding in West Africa, where the military ousted Guinea-Bissau’s leader, Umaro Embaló.

Soldiers loyal to Brigadier-General Dinis Incanha arrested Embaló on November 26 and announced that the armed forces had taken “total control” of the country.

The junta later set up the “High Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order,” led by General Horta Inta-A Na Man.

The coup took place a day before the electoral commission was due to publish official results of the November 23 vote, in which Embaló sought re-election against opposition contender Fernando Dias da Costa.

Both men had already claimed victory amid mutual accusations of rigging and intimidation.

Guinea-Bissau’s putsch has since been described as a “sham coup,” with rights groups alleging that it was engineered to derail the announcement of results and reset the political clock in favour of allies of the deposed president.

Addressing the issue on Sunday, Touray added that the Chair of Authority, President Julius Bio of Sierra Leone, will lead another high-level mission to Bissau.

He said the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff will engage the military authorities immediately.

“The election conducted on November 23, 2025, was reported as being free, transparent and peaceful by ECOWAS, the African Union and the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries,” Touray noted, calling the subsequent intervention “a subversion of the will of the electorate.”

Pressed on how sanctions would avoid punishing ordinary people in Guinea-Bissau, Touray said leaders would privilege dialogue and calibrate any penalties.

“It is going to be smart and targeted sanctions conditional in the event engagement fails or dialogue fails,” he said.

The leaders also condemned without reservation the December 7 attempted coup in Benin Republic, praising the rapid activation of regional deterrence.

“[The Authority] applauds the swift response by elements of the ECOWAS Standby Force in supporting the Republican Forces of Benin to halt the attempted coup.

“The swift move by the security forces of Benin, as well as their colleagues in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Sierra Leone, demonstrated regional solidarity,” Touray said.

Benin became the latest flashpoint of West Africa’s political instability after a failed coup on December 7, 2025.

In the wake of the attempt, President Tinubu, acting on requests from the Béninoise government, ordered the deployment of jets and troops to quell the attacks.

On December 9, the Senate approved Tinubu’s request to send Nigerian troops to the Republic of Benin as part of efforts to help restore calm and stability after the attempted military takeover.

Benin’s foreign ministry says about 200 West African soldiers, mainly from Nigeria and Ivory Coast, are in the country to support the government.

The Authority also moved to tighten the legal posture behind rapid deployments, directing the Commission to propose the relevant texts governing the Standby Force.

It acknowledged “relative stability and resilience” elsewhere, noting elections in Côte d’Ivoire and advances in Sierra Leone’s post-election Agreement for National Unity with the All People’s Congress.

Touray underscored the ECOWAS’ zero-tolerance doctrine for power grabs, both military and any tampering with constitutional order.

“ECOWAS leaders have resolved to ensure there is zero tolerance for unconstitutional change of government,” he said, adding that the bloc will act early to deter coups.

The bloc also confronted destabilising rhetoric in The Gambia, expressing serious concern over pronouncements by former President Yahya Jammeh from exile in Equatorial Guinea.

“Those pronouncements not only constitute a breach of conditions of asylum, but also threaten peace and security as well as social cohesion in The Gambia,” Touray said.

He stressed that the joint ECOWAS–AU–UN declaration that enabled Jammeh’s departure in 2017 “does not in any manner absolve the former president from alleged human-rights violations between 1994 and 2016” adding, “There will be consequences” for interference in Gambia’s stability.

On Guinea (Conakry), the Authority welcomed milestones under an agreed transition roadmap, constitutional reform, referendum and party registration, and backed elections scheduled for December 28, with the deployment of observers.

When asked about the elections, Touray said, “We hope the elections would be credible, transparent and fair.”

Sunday’s session, with the theme, ‘A Special Debate on the Future of the Community,’ follows five turbulent years for West Africa marked by military takeovers in Mali (2020, 2021), Burkina Faso (twice in 2022) and Niger (2023).

The juntas of the affected states announced withdrawal from ECOWAS in early 2024, unsettling rules on free movement, trade, banking and joint security.

Touray said the Authority also took decisions to keep ECOWAS’ leadership running.

He announced that the Presidency of the Commission rotates to Senegal from July 2026; Nigeria gets the Vice-Presidency.

Meanwhile commissioner portfolios were assigned as follows: Political Affairs, Peace and Security (Sierra Leone), Economic Affairs & Agriculture (Liberia), Internal Services (Côte d’Ivoire), Infrastructure, Energy & Digitalisation (Ghana), Human Development & Social Affairs (Benin).

Togo will lead the West African Health Organisation. The Gambia will head its anti-money-laundering body, GIABA. Five ECOWAS Court of Justice seats were allocated to Benin, Togo, The Gambia, Nigeria and Liberia.

“The Authority has also decided to support Ghana’s candidature for the chairmanship of the African Union for the year 2027,” Touray announced, adding that Liberia has been pencilled to hold the ECOWAS Commission presidency in 2030–2034, subject to criteria at the time.

Fielding questions about preventing yet another emergency summit on coups, Touray said the bloc will employ political mediation and a Standby force under its current blueprint for deterrence.

“What ECOWAS leaders have resolved to do is to ensure that there is zero tolerance for unconstitutional change of government and the example set in the Republic of Benin is there for all of us to see,” he said.

President Bola Tinubu was represented at the Session by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

It is the first time he is representing the Nigerian leader at an ECOWAS summit on home soil while the President remains in the country.

Tinubu chaired ECOWAS from July 2023 to July 2025 before handing over to Sierra Leone’s Julius Bio.

At Sunday’s meeting which began at 03:00pm (local time), leaders and representatives of the remaining ECOWAS member-states are holding a “special debate on the future of the Community,” according to the draft agenda sighted by our correspondent.

Presidents who attended in person include Julius Bio of Sierra Leone who chairs the ECOWAS, José Maria Neves (Cabo Verde), Adama Barrow (The Gambia), John Mahama (Ghana), Bassirou Faye (Senegal), and Faure Gnassingbé (Togo).

With three years of experience, Stephen, The PUNCH correspondent, has been covering Nigeria’s presidency, politics, security, immigration and trafficking in persons

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