By Enyichukwu Enemanna
West Africa’s regional bloc, the Economic Community of West Africtates (ECOWAS) on Monday deployed troops to Guinea-Bissau to help stabilize the country.
This is following a failed coup which rocked the country earlier in the year.
ECOWAS, made up of 15-member nations had in February announced that it would deploy the force, a few days after President Umaru Sissoco Embalo survived what he called an assassination attempt by drug traffickers.
“We thank ECOWAS heads of state for their solidarity at a time when Bissau was grappling with upheavals linked to several attempts to subvert constitutional and democratic order,” Defence Minister Marciano Silva Barbeiro said at an inauguration ceremony in the capital Bissau.
The 631 troops will help local forces protect public officials, institutions and civilians.
Guinea-Bissau has seen 10 coups or attempted coups since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974.
ECOWAS deployed a similar mission from 2012 to 2020 after another coup, to help deter the military from intervening in politics and protect political leaders.
