Guinea-Bissau's escalating crackdown on press freedom

On July 31, a vigil demanding overdue salary payments ended in violence for Djuma Culubali. The young Capital FM journalist said she was detained and assaulted by Guinea-Bissau’s rapid intervention force before she could report on the protest.

She told DW that officers arrested her before the event even began and claimed that they beat her until she lost consciousness.

"I was just about to prepare interviews with the protesting teachers when I saw a police car speeding towards us," Culubali recounted.

"It was a miracle that we weren't all run over by the car," she told DW. "The police got out and immediately started beating us. Then everything went black." 

Culubali said she had to be treated at the central hospital in Guinea-Bissau and now suffers from severe headaches and facial paralysis.

Reporters at risk

Other journalists said they were also attacked by police officers on the same day. 

"Journalist Ngouisam Casimiro Monteiro from Radio Popular was also seriously injured," stated a protest note from the Union of Journalists and Social Communication Technicians of Guinea-Bissau (SINJOTECS), which described it as "another sad chapter in the usual police brutality against media representatives in our country." 

"The situation of Guinean-Bissauan journalists is dramatic," said the head of the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) for Sub-Saharan Africa, Sadibou Marong.

"The president of the republic displays a disastrous attitude towards the media," Marong told DW.

Attacks on journalists who criticize the government in Guinea-Bissau are commonplace, especially since an alleged coup attempt on February 1, 2022 against President Umaro Sissoco Embalo.

The president's crusade against free journalism and the country's democratic institutions culminated in the dissolution of the elected parliament in December 2023.

Since then, former Brigadier-General Embalo has been ruling the country by decree at the head of a government he appointed himself.

'People's Front' challenges Embalo

In concern for democracy, representatives of several civil society groups have formed a "Frente Popular," (People's Front).

In recent weeks, this organization registered several demonstrations against Embalo's presidency. Their goal is to make it clear to the president that he should step down and not run for a second term. However, the Ministry of Interior banned all protest actions by the "Frente Popular" and had them violently suppressed by the police.

Supporters of the "Frente Popular" plan to take to the streets again on Saturday. But once again, they have not received permission to do so.

A week earlier, on August 3, the police prevented the holding of another demonstration organized by the "Frente Popular" together with the National Union of Workers of Guinea (UNTG).

Julio Mendonca, the UNTG's general secretary, tried to explain why the people had every reason to protest.

"Today, a regular worker in Guinea-Bissau can't even afford a bag of rice," Mendonca told DW.

The People’s Front coordinator, journalist Armando Lona, called it ‘incomprehensible’ that police halted the August 3 demonstration despite the Ministry of Interior confirming the event’s announcement.

Lona added that the People's Front "would not give up" and that their struggle was for "the restoration of dignity and democracy" in Guinea-Bissau.

Legal persecution of the opposition

In December 2019, Umaro Sissoco Embalo won the presidency of Guinea-Bissau in a runoff election against rival Domingos Simoes Pereira.

He was backed by MADEM G15 (Movement for Democratic Alternance), which had broken away from Pereira’s PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde).

Historically, the PAIGC, founded as a Marxist liberation movement, was the ruling party from the country’s independence until the establishment of a multi-party system in 1994.

Currently, Embalo finds himself increasingly isolated politically. Not only has the PAIGC distanced itself from him, but so have most other parties, including significant factions within his own party, MADEM G15.

President Sissoco Embalo has directed the judiciary to initiate legal proceedings against PAIGC leader Domingos Simoes Pereira. A Ministry of Justice decree published on Tuesday requires Pereira to appear before the attorney general within ten days to address allegations of corruption from 2016, which had been dismissed by an appeals court in 2018, according to Pereira's defense team.

Victor Fernandes, a lawyer, argues the move has little chance of succeeding.

"The attorney general's office, as the defender of legality, should be aware that a deputy cannot be summoned in this way, that is, by a mere decree," Fernandes told DW. 

"First, a request to lift his parliamentary immunity must be submitted to the National People's Assembly. Only after this is lifted can he appear. There must also be an ongoing case."

Fernandes said he believed that Embalo "sees his fortunes slipping away" and may be using the judiciary to undermine his political rival.

This article was originally written in German

While you're here: Every weekday, we host AfricaLink, a podcast packed with news, politics, culture and more. You can listen and follow AfricaLink wherever you get your podcasts.