Guinea-Bissau activists name funding sources for Dakar meeting — The Rio Times
Ten representatives of Guinea-Bissau's civil society said that a meeting in Dakar, Senegal, was funded by the African Union Commission and the Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation. They also denied the involvement of United Nations structures in selecting participants or financing the event, The Rio Times reports.
Dispute over meeting participants
The meeting of civic activists took place on October 19, 2026. On October 24, the group issued a statement in Bissau in response to claims by the Movimento Nacional network, which said it had not been invited to the discussions and questioned the representativeness of the participants.
The statement's authors stressed that the country's civil society is diverse and that the right to participate in discussions about the state's future does not depend on the approval of any particular platform. The document's signatories include WANEP-GB, the Guinean League for Human Rights, Voz di Paz, the Women's Political Platform, and other organizations.
Movimento Nacional's claims
In an open letter to the African Union representative in Guinea-Bissau, Ovídio Pequeno, Movimento Nacional said it had not been informed about the meeting with the African Union envoy. The network called the event inappropriate and counterproductive and asked for its objectives, scope, and participant selection criteria to be made public.
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Movimento Nacional also pointed to the presence of United Nations Development Programme staff in photographs on social media and expressed doubts about the impartiality of the assistance. In response, the group of ten activists called the claims about the United Nations Development Programme's role false and unfounded.
Funding without independent confirmation
The Rio Times notes that it found no public statements by the African Union, the Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation, or UNDP regarding this meeting. Therefore, the information about the funding and the absence of UN involvement is based on the statement by the group of civic activists and has not been independently confirmed.
Political situation in the country
According to Lusa, cited by The Rio Times, Guinea-Bissau's army seized power almost a year earlier. On October 8, the transitional government said that conditions did not exist for holding the general elections scheduled for December 6, 2026. The African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, and Senegal are involved in international contacts concerning the country's political transition.
