UN Security Council slaps sanctions on Guinea-Bissau coup leaders

The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on the leaders of Guinea-Bissau, following April’s coup d'etat, Agence France Presse reported.

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In a unanimous decision, the Security Council ordered a travel ban against five top military officers.

They are General Antonio Injai, Major General Mamadu Ture, General Estevao Na Mena, Brigadier General Ibraima Camara, and Lieutenant colonel Daba Naualna.

The sanctions resolution was drawn up by Portugal, with Portugal's UN ambassador, Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral, saying that coups against legitimate democratic governments were “simply unacceptable."

After the resolution was passed, Cabral told the council: "We are gravely concerned by increasing reports of recurrent human rights violations" by the military command.

The UN vote was held on the day the first of 600 soldiers from the West Africa bloc ECOWAS arrived in Guinea-Bissau, on a mission to restore stability, Reuters reported.

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The move comes after the European Union ordered sanctions over the coup. Guinea-Bissau has also been suspended by the African Union.

ECOWAS and UN officials are to meet today in Abidjan, the economic capital of the Ivory Coast, to discuss the coups in both Guinea-Bissau and Mali.