Guinea-Bissau: military partially lifts ban on political activities
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Africaguinée
The High Military Command, the central body of the transition in Guinea-Bissau, announced on 5 November 2026 a partial easing of the ban on political activities, according to a statement from the High Military Command for the Restoration of National Security and Public Order. The measure takes effect on 24 November, two days before the first anniversary of the 26 November 2025 coup that overthrew President Umaro Sissoco Embaló.
Internal meetings, coordination meetings, assemblies and congresses of legally constituted parties are now authorised, provided they are held in pre-defined venues and after notification to the competent authorities. Marches, demonstrations, parades and public political gatherings remain banned, as does any initiative "likely to compromise national security, social tranquillity and public order", the statement said. Parties and their leaders must refrain from any act likely to incite violence, tribalism or confrontation, on pain of the restrictions being reinstated.
This opening comes after calls by the API-Cabaz Garandi coalition for a national political pact, issued on 4 November. It follows the mobilisation of two coalitions in favour of a civil-military pact in early October and the appeal by 24 personalities to ECOWAS to restore constitutional order.
