French President Emmanuel Macron will hold a working meeting this Thursday in Bissau with his Guinean counterpart, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, as part of an unprecedented visit by a French head of state to Guinea-Bissau.
According to the executive source, the the meetings should take place in the Presidential Palace of Guinealocated in the center of Bissau and that has all accesses closed to traffic since Wednesday afternoon, as well as the perimeter surrounding the hotel where the French official spent the night, after arriving in the country on Wednesday night.
The roads that give access to the building were washed by the Bissau Humanitarian Firefighters and in some areas signaling bars were placed to prohibit the passage of vehicles.
The electricity poles that are located in the main arteries that connect the Osvaldo Vieira de Bissau International Airport with the Presidential Palace carry the flags of Guinea-Bissau and France, as well as those of the area that goes from the building to the port of Pindjiguiti.
In Bissau, a clear reinforcement of the defense and security forcesmade up of police, National Guard and Armed Forces in vehicles that patrol the neighborhoods and areas of the palace where Emmanuel Macron will hold all the meetings within the framework of the visit.
In the statement on the visit, the French Presidency stated that “the governance and rule of law issues will be addressed at all stageswithout media interdict but in the form of direct exchanges with their counterparts.”
Emmanuel Macron arrived in Bissau from Benin on Wednesday, after having been in Cameroon, as part of his first trip to African countries since he was re-elected president last March.
The Guinean prime minister considers that the visit of the French president is the result of stability in the country
The French head of state is scheduled to leave Guinea-Bissau around 12 noon on Thursday and return to Paris, after participating in a joint press statement with his Guinean counterpart.
Guinean Prime Minister Nuno Nabiam told Lusa on Wednesday that Emmanuel Macron’s visit is a confirmation that the country is stable and progressing, which, he said, should make citizens proud.
But last week, when the visit was announced, the Guinean political analyst Armando Lona had also told Lusa that Emmanuel Macron is visiting Guinea-Bissau to “try to open a window to France” in the countries of the Economic Community of States of Guinea. West Africa (ECOWAS).
Armando Lona, who sees the visit as an “interesting gift” for the current Guinean authorities, considered that Macron “feels that France is losing ground in the ECOWAS space” and intends to take advantage of the fact that the organization is being led, on a rotating basis, by Umaro Sissoco Embaló.
Source: Observadora
