In a vehement denial, Umaro Sissoco Embalo reaffirmed his determination to fight drug trafficking and denounced accusations that he believes are politically motivated by his detractors.
Guinea-Bissau, a small West African country, has once again found itself in the crosshairs of a drug trafficking controversy.
While the country has been trying for years to shake off its image as a “narco-state,” a recent cocaine seizure has reignited political tensions.
Against this backdrop, the country’s head of state used an informal face-to-face meeting with the press to respond to his opponents’ accusations and reaffirm his integrity and determination to fight drug trafficking.
Referring to a recent drug seizure by neighbouring Senegal, President Embalo insisted that that incident had not attracted as much media attention as the accusations against him.
”Some time ago, Senegal intercepted a boat carrying several tonnes of drugs, but it didn’t generate as much theatrics”, he said, suggesting that the case against him had been politically motivated.
On Saturday, Guinea-Bissau’s judicial police stopped a private jet carrying 2.6 tonnes of cocaine from Venezuela.
The five Latin Americans on board were arrested and handed over to prosecutors. The affair hit the headlines in Guinea-Bissau, and opponents were quick to point fingers of accusation at the president in this latest drug scandal.
Faced with accusations from his opponents, notably Nuno Nabiam, Braima Camara and Domingos Simoes Pereira, the President of Guinea-Bissau categorically denied any involvement in drug trafficking.
”I don’t care if Nuno Nabiam says I’m a trafficker, and I won’t answer him, or Braima Camara or Domingos Simoes Pereira” he said, refusing to be drawn into a controversy he considered unfounded.
A diplomatic record
To counter these accusations, Umaro Sissoko Embalo trumpted his diplomatic record.
”I’ve been invited to the US Congress, China, Spain and France, where I’ve made official visits. Do you think I would have been invited so many times if I had been involved in what is being said about me?” he said.
The president reiterated his commitment to the fight against drug trafficking and corruption, recalling a conversation with a certain Soares. Soares once said to me: ‘When you commit yourself to fighting these two phenomena, you must first prepare your own side and be ready to face it’. That’s why I often say that even if I have to stand alone, I won’t retreat because I refuse to embrace illegality,’ he said.
As he approaches the end of his term, President Embalo expressed his wish that his successor would be ‘more dignified and serious’ than himself, with ‘even more values’. He was adamant that none of his current opponents would succeed him and promised that Guinea-Bissau would not be ‘a country in anarchy’ when he left.
ARD/sf/lb/as/APA