Guinea-Bissau president says he will run for a second term amid political turmoil

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) - Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said he will run for a second term in November, amid tensions with an opposition that refuses to recognize him as the country's current president.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS that had been sent to Guinea-Bissau in hopes of resolving the country’s political crisis departed Monday after what they said were threats of expulsion from Embalo.

Embalo, who dissolved the opposition-dominated parliament in late 2023, told reporters he would run again Monday at the airport in the capital Bissau following his trip to Russia, Azerbaijan and Hungary.

"I will be a candidate for my own succession," Embalo said.

Guinea-Bissau's constitution sets the presidential term at five years, renewable once, and Embalo would be running for an allowed second term. But the details of his first term are complicated, and the opposition argues that his first term already has ended.

Embalo’s announcement risks escalating tensions in the small West African nation, which has endured multiple coups since gaining independence from Portugal over 50 years ago.

Embalo won an election on Nov. 24, 2019 and was sworn in as president on Feb. 27, 2020, but the opposition contested the result and the Supreme Court did not recognize his victory until Sept. 4. The opposition says Embalo's term should have ended on Feb. 27 of this year, but the Supreme Court has ruled that it should run until Sept. 4.

Embalo has set the election date for Nov. 30 and says that he should stay in office until then, but the opposition has refused since last week to recognize him as president. Opposition leaders have warned they will plan mass protests and strikes, but were waiting to see if the ECOWAS mission was successful.

Embalo says he has survived two attempts to overthrow him in the last three years. After the most recent one in December 2023, which involved a shootout between the national and presidential guard, he dissolved the opposition-controlled parliament, accusing it of passivity.

Last week, Embalo met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss potential economic and security ties as Russia has emerged as the security partner of choice for a growing number of African governments, displacing traditional allies such as France and the United States.