BISSAU, Aug 16, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The government of Guinea-Bissau said it was expelling two major Portuguese news agencies from the country Friday in a move swiftly condemned by Lisbon.

The Portuguese-speaking west African nation gave no further explanation for the move, which it said would affect news agency Lusa and public broadcaster RTP.

Their programming is suspended and their representatives were told to leave the country by Tuesday, according to a note from the ministry seen by AFP.

Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was supposed to be in Lisbon Monday for a ceremony marking his tenure as the rotating president of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), will no longer attend, according to the Guinea-Bissau chapter.

Condemning the expulsions, the Portuguese government said that "within the framework of bilateral relations, such a decision appears highly reprehensible and unjustifiable".

It added that it had summoned Guinea-Bissau's ambassador to a Saturday meeting to explain the action.

Portugal "will do everything possible to reverse this decision", it said.

The expulsion "is a government decision", Guinea-Bissau Foreign Minister Carlos Pinto Pereira told journalists.

"We will provide the reasoning behind this decision at a press briefing, probably tomorrow (Saturday)", he added

"We have received the reactions of the Portuguese government. We will address it in an appropriate forum", he said.

Among the world's poorest countries and with a reputation for rampant corruption, Guinea-Bissau has laboured under a succession of coups since independence from Portugal in 1974.

Embalo was originally elected in December 2019 for a five-year term and had stated that he would only serve once.

But he ultimately postponed the election date until November of this year, eliciting months of turmoil and accusations of clinging to power well beyond the end of his mandate.