Gambiaj.com – (BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau) – Senegal has stepped up diplomatic pressure on Guinea-Bissau’s transitional authorities, signaling it will not relent in efforts to mend relations between the ruling junta and the political opposition as the West African state inches toward the end of its transition.
Guinea-Bissau’s junta leader, General Horta Inta-a, on Monday held talks in Bissau with a high-level Senegalese delegation led by General Birame Diop, Senegal’s Minister of National Defense and Special Envoy of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
The discussions focused on the pace of the political transition and the continued detention of Domingos Simões Pereira, leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).
The Senegalese delegation included senior military and diplomatic officials, among them Senegal’s ambassador to Guinea-Bissau, Moussa Ndoye.
On the Bissau side, the meeting brought together key figures of the transitional setup, including Prime Minister Ilídio Vieira Té and senior security chiefs.
The visit follows an early January intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), when a presidential mission led by Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, alongside President Diomaye Faye of Senegal, demanded a swift transition and the release of political detainees.
That pressure resulted in the release of several opposition figures, but Simões Pereira, PAIGC leader and coordinator of the “PAI–Terra Ranka” coalition, has remained in detention for more than three months.
Despite Prime Minister Vieira Té’s assertion last week that Simões Pereira’s fate rests solely with the courts, Senegal has continued to press the issue diplomatically.
Sources familiar with Monday’s talks said the opposition leader’s situation featured prominently in the closed-door meeting, underscoring Dakar’s insistence that political reconciliation is inseparable from a credible transition.
After more than an hour of discussions, Guinea-Bissau’s Foreign Minister João Bernardo Vieira briefly told journalists the meeting had been “very productive,” adding that further engagements were planned.
Shortly afterward, the Senegalese delegation visited Simões Pereira at the second police station, accompanied by Bissau’s foreign minister, before returning to the presidential palace for a joint statement.
Senegal’s sustained engagement reflects a broader regional concern that unresolved political detentions could undermine planned elections and prolong instability. Transitional authorities have scheduled general elections for December 6 and say the transition will formally end in November.
For Dakar, officials suggest, the message is clear: the transition timetable will only be credible if accompanied by tangible steps to heal divisions between the junta and the opposition, starting with the fate of Guinea-Bissau’s most prominent detained political figure.
