The French ambassador to Guinea Bissau, Francois Chappellet, told IRIN today there was no French military presence in Guinea Bissau. A report by the Portuguese news agency Lusa last Thursday cited a communique by the Resistencia da Guine-Bissau - Movimento Ba-Fata (RGB-MB), and the Uniao para a Mudanca (UM) criticising what they said was the “increasing (French) presence and movement of military forces” in the Bissau region and the offshore Bijagos islands.
Chappellet said the only French troops in the country comprised his 15 embassy guards. France, in talks with ECOWAS, had offered to provide equipment and transport for a battalion of multinational ECOMOG interposition troops in Guinea Bissau, he said.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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