Portugal’s Socialist Party wants to understand what was going on when a flight from Guinea-Bissau arrived in Figo Maduro airport, carrying a number of VIP passengers and transporting at least €5 million in cash.
The party has requested an ‘urgent parliamentary heading’ with minister of foreign affairs Paulo Rangel.
Parliamentary leader Eurico Brilhante Dias says it wants to understand who authorised the classification of the trip as a ‘state flight’ “when President Sissoco Embaló was no longer president; had (ostensibly) been deposed and was, in fact, outside Guinea-Bissau”.
“There is a set of information about the nature of the flight, who authorised the flight, what information they had when they authorised the flight, which we believe is particularly important,” says Dias.
The request, signed by PS party leader, José Luís Carneiro, and all PS MPs on the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, states that the term “state flight corresponds, in terms of international law and diplomatic practice, to official trips by heads of state, heads of government and/ or other high-ranking officials in office”.
In other words, this could not have been a state flight.
“The attribution of this status implies exceptional prerogatives, particularly in terms of protocol, security, overflight and landing authorisations, and must comply with clear, transparent and rigorous criteria” says the PS request for information.
“In the case in question, the passengers are associated with a head of state who was deposed following a coup d’état, which is not recognised by the international community, making it extremely important to clarify the political, diplomatic and legal grounds on which decisions were based.”
Brilhante Dias told Lusa that these clarifications are particularly important at a time when there has been “much talk” – not only in Portugal but elsewhere – that the coup d’état on November 26 was a “self-perpetrated coup so that President Embaló could later return to Guinea-Bissau”.
He went on to say that having “detailed information about the nature of this flight” could also help to “understand who is actually controlling the government in Guinea-Bissau, who is in power and, in particular, whether the Portuguese government has collaborated, or is collaborating, with this group of military personnel who today apparently control Guinea-Bissau.
“The nature of this flight, and the conditions under which it was operated, may help us to clarify, or come closer to clarifying, the actual situation in Guinea-Bissau,” explains Dias.
Asked how the PS assesses the Portuguese government’s position in this case, the parliamentary leader replied that, in matters of state, the PS “is particularly cautious” – but he said it is important to note that in Guinea-Bissau “the electoral process has been interrupted” and “a number of political leaders have been arrested” – including the speaker of parliament and leader of the PAIGC, Domingos Simões Pereira.
“What we hope – and we have seen some evolution in the Portuguese government’s position – is that the Portuguese state, within the framework of the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries) and the international community, will stand by democratic principles,” Dias stressed.
At issue is a flight earlier this month, on which Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s wife, her sister and Embaló’s ‘chief of protocol’ /businessman Tito Gomes Fernandes were travelling, and on which around €5 million in cash was seized.
The ministry of foreign affairs told Lusa earlier this week that “the classification as a state flight was due to the fact that the person in question is the spouse of a head of state (and the spouse is entitled to protocol treatment at the same level as the head of state)”.
This is a rather vague explanation, given that there were at least three passengers on the plane when it landed late at night on December 14, and Sissoco Embaló is technically no longer a head of state.
Source: LUSA
