Lisbon, Oct. 3, 2024 (Lusa) - The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) is following with "some concern" the situation in Guinea-Bissau, one of its nine member states and the one that is due to take over the rotating presidency in 2025, the organisation's executive secretary has told Lusa.
"We follow developments in Guinea-Bissau with some concern, but it is a fundamental principle of the CPLP not to interfere in the internal affairs of each member state," said Zacarias da Costa, in an interview that took place in Lisbon, where the CPLP has its headquarters, on the occasion of the third anniversary of his taking over as executive secretary.
However, he added, "we are sure that the [Bissau-]Guineans will know how to get out of this bad situation. The elections have already been announced by the President of the Republic, for 24 November, and we naturally hope that everything goes smoothly."
What counts for the moment, he stressed, is that there was a decision at the last Summit of Heads of State and Government, which took place last year in Sao Tome and Principe, that the next high-level formal meeting of the organisation will be in Guinea-Bissau, and that there are already dates for this.
"All the meetings will take place from 14 to 18 July, so it will be the Summit on the 18th, the Council of Ministers on the 17th, the Permanent Coordination Committee on the 16th [a meeting of the ambassadors representing member states at the CPLP in Lisbon] and the meetings of the cooperation focal points before that," he said.
But when asked whether or not this decision could change if the elections in the country do not go ahead as planned and the political scenario in Guinea-Bissau does not improve, Zacarias da Costa replied: "Obviously we also hope that the situation normalises, so that the country can take over the presidency of the organisation for the 2025-2027 biennium."
He emphasised that "reversing the decision or not" is up to CPLP member states, stressing that he is "sure that the heads of state and government will monitor the situation very closely."
At the moment, he reiterated, there is "a decision, a date and a commitment from a country, not a president or a prime minister, to host the summit in 2025... and also to lead the organisation in the 2025-2027 biennium."
Regarding last week's informal meeting of CPLP heads of state and government in New York, on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the United Nations and at which, according to some sources, the issue of the future presidency of the organisation could be discussed, Zacarias da Costa stressed that it was "an informal meeting" - although this "does not detract from its validity and importance" because it discussed important issues, taking into account the global situation.
Guinea-Bissau's president, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, has scheduled early parliamentary elections for 24 November, having already dissolved parliament last December - outside the constitutional deadlines - and overseen the formation of a new government at his own initiative.
In addition to Guinea-Bissau, the CPLP's member states are Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Timor-Leste.
On the criticism that is often levelled at the organisation for not speaking out on issues of human rights or even the functioning of the democratic institutions of its member states that are not in line with the principles defended by the CPLP itself, the executive secretary said that "the important thing" is for the community's members to work "together to strengthen international mechanisms" because "the CPLP cannot replace the authorities of each country."
Zacarias da Costa said that while there is often the idea that the CPLP can solve "all the problems" of each country, the opposite should be the case, that is, "the governments of each country should first solve their own problems" and, within the community as a whole, "joint, concerted action should be found for everyone's problems."
In his opinion, "there has been" more and more of this effort, but in the three years that he has been executive secretary, there have been elections in almost all of the nine member states, "which implies a continuous dialogue and an alignment of strategies with the new authorities in each country."
According to Zacarias da Costa, at the same time there has also been an effort by the organisation to ratify and put into practice agreements already concluded by member states, and he cited one example.
"We are working so that the member states, or at least a reasonable number, can ratify the multilateral convention on social security," which so far has been ratified by Portugal and Timor-Leste. "We need one more member state for it to enter into force."
ATR/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
