Yussef was speaking to the Lusa news agency on the sidelines of today’s gathering of a few dozen people at Largo de São Domingos in Rossio, Lisbon, against what they call “Sissoco’s dictatorship”.
This initiative in Lisbon was organised in parallel with another planned for the capital, Bissau, promoted by the Revolutionary Movement for the Dust of the Earth (MRPT). According to Yussef, the 12 members allegedly kidnapped belonged to the MRPT.
“We received information this morning that 12 members of this organisation [MRPT] had been kidnapped and the militias of Umaro Sissoco Embaló carried out this kidnapping,” he said.
He added: “Since 27 February 2020, until today, we have been seeing kidnappings of politicians, trade unionists, activists, from the moment they express their indignation against the dictatorship that is being installed in Guinea-Bissau.”
“At the same time, it also means the destruction of those conquests of freedom that we have gained since the liberation struggle until today,” he said. According to Yussef, the whereabouts of the 12 members of the movement are unknown, but the activists have identified those responsible.
“We say here in no uncertain terms that we place the responsibility for the physical and moral integrity of these comrades on Sissoco Embaló, on Botche Candé [Minister of the Interior] and on General Biaguê Na N’Tan, who is the head of the Armed Forces,” he said.
In Lisbon, the Firkidja di Púbis Movement promises to echo all the demands in Guinea-Bissau that, for several reasons, but mainly because of the dictatorship in place, cannot be expressed. “There is resistance and we want to echo this resistance,” he said, defending the fall of the current regime as an absolute priority for Guinea-Bissau and “a fall with a bang”.
“We think that the political agent to achieve this historic need of our people is the people of Guinea-Bissau themselves, organised politically. We don’t think this should happen through negotiations, or elections that are a sham, since we have bodies, which should organise these elections and approve them, that are out of date, outside the law,” he said.
He concluded: “It’s through the streets that we can overthrow this regime and open up a space for a transition to a de facto democracy.”
In Largo de São Domingos, there were slogans and cheers for the “father” of Guinea-Bissau’s independence, Amílcar Cabral. Still, it was the Guinean President who was the focus of the Guineans’ displeasure, whether present or living in Portugal.
Sissoco, out”, “down with the lie tellers”, “down with the murderous military” or “down with the murderous judges” were some of the slogans heard in that part of Lisbon’s Rossio, written on improvised posters. Watching the preparations for the demonstration, Angolan Carlos Sousa lamented: “Poor my brother people”.
He told Lusa that he wanted “elections that are more transparent and monitored by international organisations”. “The three countries – Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique – that fought hard against colonialism are the three countries that are a disgrace to us in terms of democracy, 50 years on.”
Carlos Sousa had hoped that, having been the first to proclaim independence (1973), the Guineans would first find stability. “This instability in Guinea-Bissau scares away foreign investment, tourism…” he said, emphasising: “I love the Guinean people, they are humble, serious people. The problem is governance.
Embaló took office on 27 February 2020, after winning the second round against Simões Pereira, who the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (PAIGC) backed, the ruling party that had led the country since its independence from Portugal in 1973.
Plataforma with Lusa
