It was not bloody but of far-reaching consequence, the military coup of April 2012 that plunged Guinea-Bissau into another crisis of instability. No government has succeeded its full mandate in the previous years and the current legitimate one is still in exile in Portugal. The parties of the country stand irreconcilably facing each other. Additionally, there are numerous external actors like the controversial friend Angola, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the European Union or the Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries (CPLP), who make the web of interests even more complex and a solution more difficult.
In the latest HSFK-Standpunkt 1/2013 Irrwege und Auswege ("A deadlocked situation and ways out"), Christoph Kohl analyzes the situation in the West African state and draws an image of how stability could be brought forward in the country, which not only the people of Guinea-Bissau would benefit from but also the whole region.
This HSFK-Standpunkt is available as a free PDF-Download.