The National Transition Council (CNT) today accused the Portuguese government of hostility towards the authorities in power in Guinea-Bissau and of practising “corridor conspiracy” diplomacy.
The position is set out in a “note of repudiation and final warning to the government of Portugal” published today by the Council that replaced the Guinean parliament following the November 2025 military coup.
The military’s reaction follows statements by Portuguese foreign minister Paulo Rangel, who said on Friday in Paris that Portugal has been speaking “with some discretion” with Lusophone partners — particularly Angola and Brazil — to seek Guinea-Bissau’s return to democracy.
In the note sent to Lusa, the CNT begins by “warning minister Paulo Rangel” that “when he wishes to speak about Guinea-Bissau, he should address the Guineans and their legitimate authorities.” “The coup d’état is a reality that the CNT and the Military High Command are managing to save the nation, and we will not accept Portugal setting itself up as judge of a house that is no longer its own,” the note states.
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The military rulers warn that “this will be the last time” they tolerate “the interference of Paulo Rangel in the internal affairs” of the country, adding that neither the Portuguese minister nor Portugal “have any legitimacy to dictate norms to Guinea-Bissau.”
The CNT says the Portuguese government has pursued “a deliberately hostile policy towards Guinea-Bissau and its people” since coming to power, “breaking the excellent relationship and healthy cooperation we had maintained with previous Portuguese governments.”
This video snapshot captured on Nov. 26, 2025 shows Guinea-Bissau’s army spokesperson Dinis N’Tchama speaking on television in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. Guinea-Bissau’s armed forces announced via the national television that they had assumed full powers of the country and imposed several emergency measures. Photo: Xinhua
The Council says Portugal’s posture “reveals a profound lack of wisdom and political maturity,” contrasting it with France, which “demonstrates maturity by receiving the transitional president of Madagascar, recognising the political reality on the ground in the name of national interest and stability.”
“By contrast, the Portuguese government prefers the sterile hostility of Bissau. This difference in posture is proof of the diplomatic decadence of the current leadership of the Necessidades [Portugal’s foreign ministry],” the communiqué states.
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The military rulers add that “diplomacy is conducted openly, with dignity, and not in corridor conspiracies aimed at rehabilitating people whose roots of hatred, revenge and fierce dictatorship” are well known to the Guinean people. The CNT also makes clear that “Guinea-Bissau will never recognise the presidency of Timor-Leste of the CPLP” and will not admit “interference from Portugal under the mantle of a discreet and confidential diplomacy.”
On Rangel’s comments about continued Portuguese cooperation in health and education, the military rulers state that “cooperation is not charity,” noting that “thousands of Guineans live, work and are fundamental pillars of Portugal’s economic growth” — a contribution that gives Guinea-Bissau the right to demand “healthy cooperation, between equals, stripped of colonialist complexes and suffocating paternalism.”
Since the November 2025 coup, Guinea-Bissau has been suspended from several organisations including the CPLP — the only one yet to send a mediation mission to the country, with a planned February visit cancelled following an exchange of accusations at the highest level between Guinea-Bissau and Timor-Leste, which took over the organisation’s presidency from Bissau following the suspension.
