Guinea-Bissau–Sweden relations
Encyclopedia
Guinea-Bissau–Sweden relations is the bilateral
foreign relations
between the two countries Guinea-Bissau
and Sweden
. The ambassador of Sweden to Senegal
is accredited to Guinea-Bissau. Sweden has an honourary consulate in Bissau
. Guinea-Bissau is represented in Sweden through its embassy in Brussels
and a consul in Stockholm
.
increased rapidly after both countries had joined EFTA
in 1960, there were few contacts between Sweden and the Portuguese possessions in Africa. The imports from 'Portuguese West Africa' (which in Swedish statistics included Portuguese Guinea
, Cape Verde
, São Tomé and Príncipe
and Angola
) represented merely 0.04% of Swedish imports (2.3 million Swedish kronor) in 1950. Exports to 'Portuguese West Africa' amounted to 0.03% (1.8 million kronor) of the total Swedish exports in the same year. By 1960 the Swedish imports from these areas remained at around 0.03% whilst Swedish exports had increased marginally (0.08% of all Swedish exports).
The first African liberation movement to have a comprehensive co-operative programme established with the Swedish government was the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde
(PAIGC).
The first documented contact between PAIGC and Sweden occurred in the early 1960s, as Amílcar Cabral
requested to Swedish journalist Anders Ehnmark
to launch an appeal to support the liberation struggle in Guinea-Bissau (after a solidarity campaign of Ehnmark's paper Expressen
for Angolan refugees had gathered a large response from the Swedish public). Around 1967 the international secretary of the Swedish Social Democratic Party
, Pierre Schori
, had visited Portugal. After his return, he urged his party to support PAIGC. From the late 1960s, the two parties developed mutual relations.
In January 1967 a group of parliamentarians from the Communist Party of Sweden
(including Lars Werner
) had presented a parliamentary motion requesting that Sweden would give assistance to the Mozambique
an liberation movement FRELIMO, but the motion was rejected by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. A year later, the Communist Party issued a similar request (signed by C.H. Hermansson), requesting that Sweden give assistance to the liberation movements of the Portuguese colonies in Africa, through CONCP (which included PAIGC). This motion was also rejected. In the winter of 1968 Cabral visited Sweden (invited by the Social Democratic Party), the first of many visits. During this visit he also met with Hermansson.
At the time, PAIGC had a resident representative in Sweden, Onésimo Silveira
. Silviera would serve in this function until November 1972.
In November 1968 the Swedish government decided to support the UN General Assembly resolution 2395, calling for self-rule for the Portuguese colonies in Africa. Moreover, the Swedish ambassador to Liberia
(Olof Ripa) visited Conakry
and sought assurances from Sékou Touré that the Guinea
n government would not object to official Swedish assistance being channelled through Guinea-Conakry to the PAIGC-held areas.
However in 1969 not only the communist parliamentarians requested official Swedish support for the anti-colonial movements in the Portuguese possessions in Africa, but also their Social Democratic, the Centre Party
and the People's Party
colleagues. In May 1969 a decision was passed on Swedish support for the anti-colonial movements in the Portuguese colonies in Africa. Sweden thus became the first Western country to give official support to these organizations. However, whilst the Swedish left wing and solidarity movements called for 'unconditional support' to the armed struggle of PAIGC, the official Swedish aid was limited to non-military activities. The right wing Moderate Party
was the sole parliamentary force which opposed Swedish assistance to the anti-colonial movements.
A key factor behind the decision on behalf of the Swedish government to inititiate aid efforts to PAIGC was the fact that by the late 1960s PAIGC controlled a vast section of the territory of the country and that the movement sought foreign assistance for the build-up of social services, health care and education in these areas. Between mid-1969 and mid-1975 PAIGC received 45.2 million Swedish kronor in aid from the Swedish state, representing two-thirds of the Swedish assistance to African liberation movements during this period. Sweden was the most important donor of non-military material for PAIGC during the latter phase of the liberation war. There existed an uncoordinated de facto
division of labour between Sweden and the Soviet Union
, whilst Sweden supplied PAIGC with non-military donations the Soviet provided the weaponry for the armed struggle.
The Swedish position towards PAIGC enabled other Western countries to take similar positions. In 1972 Norway
broke the NATO ranks (Portugal, against which PAIGC was waging armed struggle, was a NATO member) and initiated an official assistance programme for PAIGC.
Cabral himself had been heavily involved in the design and follow-up on the Swedish-Guinean cooperation projects. After the murder of Cabral in 1973 Olof Palme
sent his condoleances to PAIGC and Cabral's widow, stating that Cabral had been 'one of the foremost leaders of the Third World
'.
), a month before Portugal officially withdrew its claims from the area.
After the independence of Guinea-Bissau, the economic relations between the two countries were concentrated around Swedish development assistance to Guinea-Bissau. After the recognition of the independence of Guinea-Bissau, it was the sole West Africa
n country to be designated 'programme country' for Swedish development assistance. Swedish development assistance between mid-1974 and mid-1995 accounted for 2.5 billion kronor (as of 1995 price levels). Sweden was one of the top three donor countries of Guinea-Bissau during this period. On the other hand, exports from Guinea-Bissau to Sweden remained marginal, during the period 1975-1980 the peak of Guinean exports to Sweden was at 275,000 kronor in one year.
Bilateralism
Bilateralism consists of the political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. For example, free trade agreements signed by two states are examples of bilateral treaties. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which refers to the conduct of diplomacy by a...
foreign relations
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
between the two countries Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. The ambassador of Sweden to Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
is accredited to Guinea-Bissau. Sweden has an honourary consulate in Bissau
Bissau
Bissau is the capital city of Guinea-Bissau. The city's borders are conterminous with the Bissau Autonomous Sector. In 2007, the city had an estimated population of 407,424 according to the Instituto Nacional de Estatística e Censos...
. Guinea-Bissau is represented in Sweden through its embassy in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
and a consul in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
Colonial period and liberation war
Contacts between Sweden and the area that later became the independent state of Guinea-Bissau were marginal until the late 1960s. Whilst trade relations between Sweden and PortugalPortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
increased rapidly after both countries had joined EFTA
European Fair Trade Association
The European Fair Trade Association is a Dutch association established informally in 1987. It gained formal status in 1990. It regroups 11 fair trade importers in 9 European countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. EFTA members...
in 1960, there were few contacts between Sweden and the Portuguese possessions in Africa. The imports from 'Portuguese West Africa' (which in Swedish statistics included Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.-History:...
, Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
, São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about apart and about , respectively, off...
and Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
) represented merely 0.04% of Swedish imports (2.3 million Swedish kronor) in 1950. Exports to 'Portuguese West Africa' amounted to 0.03% (1.8 million kronor) of the total Swedish exports in the same year. By 1960 the Swedish imports from these areas remained at around 0.03% whilst Swedish exports had increased marginally (0.08% of all Swedish exports).
The first African liberation movement to have a comprehensive co-operative programme established with the Swedish government was the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde
African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde
The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde or PAIGC is a political party that governed Guinea-Bissau from the independence of the then Portuguese Guinea in 1974, until the late 1990s, and from 2004 to 2005. Currently it is the party with the largest number of seats in the...
(PAIGC).
The first documented contact between PAIGC and Sweden occurred in the early 1960s, as Amílcar Cabral
Amílcar Cabral
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was a Guinea-Bissauan and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, writer, and a nationalist thinker and politician. Also known by his nom de guerre Abel Djassi, Cabral led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence...
requested to Swedish journalist Anders Ehnmark
Anders Ehnmark
Anders Jacob Ehnmark is a Swedish author and journalist.Ehnmark was born in Linköping, Östergötland County, Sweden. He earned a B.A. from Uppsala University in 1960, and an honorary doctorate from Göteborg University in 1993. From 1956 to 1972 he was employed by the Swedish newspaper Expressen,...
to launch an appeal to support the liberation struggle in Guinea-Bissau (after a solidarity campaign of Ehnmark's paper Expressen
Expressen
Expressen is one of two nationwide evening tabloid newspapers in Sweden, the other being Aftonbladet. Expressen was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and slogans "it stings" or "Expressen to your rescue", always on the reader's side....
for Angolan refugees had gathered a large response from the Swedish public). Around 1967 the international secretary of the Swedish Social Democratic Party
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...
, Pierre Schori
Pierre Schori
Jean - Pierre Olov Schori is a Swedish diplomat of Swiss heritage. For many years he was international secretary in the Swedish Socialdemocratic Party and a close assistant to the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme...
, had visited Portugal. After his return, he urged his party to support PAIGC. From the late 1960s, the two parties developed mutual relations.
In January 1967 a group of parliamentarians from the Communist Party of Sweden
Left Party (Sweden)
The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists .On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations...
(including Lars Werner
Lars Werner
Lars Helge Werner is a Swedish politician. A construction worker by profession, he was elected the chairman of the Left Party - Communists in 1975 and was a member of the Swedish parliament from 1965 to 1994. During his time as party leader, in 1990, the party changed its name to the Left Party,...
) had presented a parliamentary motion requesting that Sweden would give assistance to the Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
an liberation movement FRELIMO, but the motion was rejected by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. A year later, the Communist Party issued a similar request (signed by C.H. Hermansson), requesting that Sweden give assistance to the liberation movements of the Portuguese colonies in Africa, through CONCP (which included PAIGC). This motion was also rejected. In the winter of 1968 Cabral visited Sweden (invited by the Social Democratic Party), the first of many visits. During this visit he also met with Hermansson.
At the time, PAIGC had a resident representative in Sweden, Onésimo Silveira
Onésimo Silveira
-Biography:As a young poet, Silveira was one of the most prominent critiques of the literary elite in Cape Verde. Silveira was associated with the views o f the Claridade group, and argued in favour of an African cultural identity of the islands....
. Silviera would serve in this function until November 1972.
In November 1968 the Swedish government decided to support the UN General Assembly resolution 2395, calling for self-rule for the Portuguese colonies in Africa. Moreover, the Swedish ambassador to Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
(Olof Ripa) visited Conakry
Conakry
Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...
and sought assurances from Sékou Touré that the Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
n government would not object to official Swedish assistance being channelled through Guinea-Conakry to the PAIGC-held areas.
However in 1969 not only the communist parliamentarians requested official Swedish support for the anti-colonial movements in the Portuguese possessions in Africa, but also their Social Democratic, the Centre Party
Centre Party (Sweden)
The Centre Party is a centrist political party in Sweden. The party maintains close ties to rural Sweden and describes itself as "a green social liberal party". The ideology is sometimes called agrarian, but in a European context, the Centre Party can perhaps best be characterized as social...
and the People's Party
Liberal People's Party (Sweden)
The Liberal People's Party is a political party in Sweden. The party advocates social liberalism and is part of the governing centre-right coalition The Alliance, which achieved a majority in the general election of 17 September 2006...
colleagues. In May 1969 a decision was passed on Swedish support for the anti-colonial movements in the Portuguese colonies in Africa. Sweden thus became the first Western country to give official support to these organizations. However, whilst the Swedish left wing and solidarity movements called for 'unconditional support' to the armed struggle of PAIGC, the official Swedish aid was limited to non-military activities. The right wing Moderate Party
Moderate Party
The Moderate Party is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1904 as the General Electoral League by a group of conservatives in the Swedish parliament...
was the sole parliamentary force which opposed Swedish assistance to the anti-colonial movements.
A key factor behind the decision on behalf of the Swedish government to inititiate aid efforts to PAIGC was the fact that by the late 1960s PAIGC controlled a vast section of the territory of the country and that the movement sought foreign assistance for the build-up of social services, health care and education in these areas. Between mid-1969 and mid-1975 PAIGC received 45.2 million Swedish kronor in aid from the Swedish state, representing two-thirds of the Swedish assistance to African liberation movements during this period. Sweden was the most important donor of non-military material for PAIGC during the latter phase of the liberation war. There existed an uncoordinated de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
division of labour between Sweden and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, whilst Sweden supplied PAIGC with non-military donations the Soviet provided the weaponry for the armed struggle.
The Swedish position towards PAIGC enabled other Western countries to take similar positions. In 1972 Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
broke the NATO ranks (Portugal, against which PAIGC was waging armed struggle, was a NATO member) and initiated an official assistance programme for PAIGC.
Cabral himself had been heavily involved in the design and follow-up on the Swedish-Guinean cooperation projects. After the murder of Cabral in 1973 Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...
sent his condoleances to PAIGC and Cabral's widow, stating that Cabral had been 'one of the foremost leaders of the Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
'.
After independence
Guinea-Bissau was declared independent on September 24, 1973. At the time, PAIGC was still at war with the Portuguese armed forces in the country. In Sweden groups like the Left Party-Communists and the Africa Groups solidarity movement called on the Swedish government to recognize Guinea-Bissau. However, official diplomatic recognition would not be established until August 9, 1974 (following the Portuguese Carnation RevolutionCarnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
), a month before Portugal officially withdrew its claims from the area.
After the independence of Guinea-Bissau, the economic relations between the two countries were concentrated around Swedish development assistance to Guinea-Bissau. After the recognition of the independence of Guinea-Bissau, it was the sole West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
n country to be designated 'programme country' for Swedish development assistance. Swedish development assistance between mid-1974 and mid-1995 accounted for 2.5 billion kronor (as of 1995 price levels). Sweden was one of the top three donor countries of Guinea-Bissau during this period. On the other hand, exports from Guinea-Bissau to Sweden remained marginal, during the period 1975-1980 the peak of Guinean exports to Sweden was at 275,000 kronor in one year.