Attachments
I. Introduction
1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2267 (2016), by which the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) until 28 February 2017 and requested me to report every six months on the situation in Guinea-Bissau and on progress made in the implementation of the resolution and the mandate of UNIOGBIS. The report also provides an update on key political, security, human rights, socioeconomic and humanitarian developments in Guinea-Bissau since my report of 2 August 2016 (S/2016/675).
II. Major developments
A. Political situation
2. The political situation in Guinea-Bissau continued to be dominated by the protracted political impasse in the country and by regional and international efforts to find a sustainable solution. A high-level delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), led by the President of Guinea, Alpha Condé, in his capacity as ECOWAS Mediator for Guinea-Bissau, visited Bissau on 10 September. He was accompanied by the President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Liberia and Sierra Leone, Marjon Vashti Kamara and Samura M.W. Kamara, and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel de Souza. The delegation held consultations with national political stakeholders, including the President, José Mário Vaz, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Cipriano Cassamá, the Prime Minister, Baciro Dja, representatives of the five parties with parliamentary seats and the group of 15 parliamentarians who had been expelled from the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (PAIGC).
3. My Special Representative for Guinea-Bissau and Head of UNIOGBIS, Modibo Ibrahim Touré, and the Special Representative and Head of the African Union Liaison Office in Guinea-Bissau, Ovídio Pequeno, participated in the ECOWAS-led consultations as observers on behalf of the Guinea-Bissau-based group of international partners composed of the African Union, the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries, ECOWAS, the European Union and the United Nations.
4. The ECOWAS consultations resulted in the signing, on 10 September, of a six-point road map to end the political crisis. The signatories included the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister and the leaders of the two main parties represented in the National Assembly, PAIGC and the Party for Social Renewal (PRS). The six points outlined in the road map are the holding of an inclusive national round-table dialogue; the formation of an inclusive Government to implement key reforms before legislative elections in 2018; the establishment of an ECOWAS monitoring and follow-up mechanism; the implementation of reforms in the defence and security sectors; and the “progressive demobilization” of the ECOWAS Mission in Guinea-Bissau (ECOMIB) within six months of the formation of a national contingent to take over its mandate of protecting State institutions.
5. In a resolution adopted by its Central Committee on 16 September, PAIGC clarified that it accepted the notion of an inclusive Government, provided that its “right to govern”, stemming from its victory in the legislative elections of 2014, was acknowledged. On the same day, the National Political Commission of PRS also announced its agreement to continue negotiations towards an inclusive political dialogue under the auspices of ECOWAS and in line with the road map.
6. From 10 to 14 October, the ECOWAS Mediator for Guinea-Bissau convened consultations with national stakeholders in Conakry, focused specifically on the implementation of the first two elements of the road map: the holding of an inclusive national round-table dialogue and the formation of an inclusive Government. Representatives of the Government, State institutions, political parties represented in the National Assembly, the 15 parliamentarians expelled from PAIGC and civil society participated. The President of the ECOWAS Commission, my Special Representative and envoys from Angola, Senegal, Sierra Leone and the African Union also attended. On 14 October, the political stakeholders signed the Conakry Agreement, which provides for the appointment of a consensus Prime Minister who would have “the confidence” of the President; the formation of an inclusive Government to implement a programme of reforms stemming from a national round-table dialogue, to be held within 30 days of the appointment of the Prime Minister; the development and adoption of a stability pact; and the unconditional reintegration of the 15 parliamentarians expelled from PAIGC into the party, in accordance with the party’s rules.