Just days after Chinese ambassador Yang Renhuo met Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo to donate airport security inspection equipment, the West African nation was hit by a military coup that ousted Embalo.
The November 26 coup marked yet another military takeover along Africa’s “coup belt”, adding Guinea-Bissau to nations like Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger and Gabon that had recently seen leaders toppled.
The political turmoil has raised the stakes for China’s vast economic interests in the region, including a 50-year mineral extraction agreement in Guinea-Bissau and the security of its vital US$4.5 billion Niger-Benin oil pipeline.
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Shortly after the Guinea-Bissau coup, which followed a disputed election days earlier, the instability spread to Benin, a country that had enjoyed three decades of relative peace but was tested when a small mutiny tried to overthrow President Patrice Talon’s government.
The bid was foiled by loyalist Beninese and Nigerian forces, whose intervention included the deployment of Nigerian fighter jets and ground troops.
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The instability has severely worsened the security environment for Chinese businesses.