Guinea-Bissau’s journalists condemn curbs on press conferences
The current interim President, Maj. Gen. Horta Inta-a (via Reuters)
The Guinea-Bissau junta are banning unauthorised press conferences and public statements in the name of security, and journalists have expressed concern over the press restrictions, reported RFI on January 12th.
Guinea-Bissau has been under military rule since November 26th 2025, after the military ousted President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and suspended the electoral process, which was awaiting a scheduled announcement of the results.
The Union of Journalists and Social Communication Technicians of Guinea-Bissau has issued a statement saying that it deplores the decision by the military. They have flagged the decision as alarming and a way of restricting press freedom.
Indira Correia Baldé, the acting President of the Union, said, “there is no means of resisting this measure, because first of all, there is no freedom. Journalists are not safe. So we have to adapt our ways of working, continue to do interviews. If there are no more press conferences, we can do interviews, use other means of communication. Today, many people also publish on social networks.”
The military junta has also forced the press to broadcast their orders, which journalists have condemned as they tighten their grip on them.
Following the coup, the junta issued a statement to the press, stating, “The Military High Command calls on all media outlets to cooperate in order to avoid disseminating information and messages inciting violence and civil disobedience, on pain of immediate closure.” Media executives called the move a way to curb independent reporting and press freedom and practice self censorship.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) had called for the safeguarding of the journalistic freedom of Guinea-Bissau after the military suspended many privately-owned media outlets and also expelled journalists from one of the country’s most popular radio stations, Rádio Capital FM, following the coup.
The military junta had released a transitional charter in December that bans the interim President and the Prime Minister from taking part in the next national elections. The charter also gives provisions for a parliamentary and presidential election at the end of the transition, for which the current interim President, Maj. Gen. Horta Inta-a will decide on a date.
Journalists have expressed that in a country that is in transition, restrictions on information are highly destabilising.
RFI, RSF, Maghrebi.org
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