The area on the mainland under Portuguese rule now containing Guinea-Bissau was originally called "Guiné de Cabo Verde". Cape Verde was a site of transit in the slave trade from Guinea-Bissau to the Americas.[1]Portuguese Cape Verde supplied many colonial officials for the mainland Portuguese Guinea, later Guinea-Bissau, at one point making up three-quarters of the civil service.[1]
Independence
Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau campaigned together for independence from Portugal, chiefly led by Amílcar Cabral's Marxist African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) from 1956.[1] Cape Verde provided the bourgeoisie that led the anti-colonial movement in Portuguese Guinea.[2] An ideology of unity was key to Cabral's theory of African liberation, and Cabral was himself Cape Verdean Guinea-Bissauan, though the call for unity was partly a tactic to avoid Guinea-Bissau becoming independent without Cape Verde, as the latter had closer ties to Portugal.[3] The PAIGC then fought the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence (part of the wider Portuguese Colonial War), and declared independence in 1973, being formally granted independence in September 1974. Cape Verde joined Guinea-Bissau in independence from Portugal when it peacefully negotiated independence on 5 July 1975,[2] following the April 1974 Carnation Revolution in Portugal, and Aristides Pereira of the PAIGC became president. The intent was unification, as written into the two countries' constitutions.[2] The PAIGC viewed them as "sister republics" with "two bodies with only one heart", and the countries shared a flag and national anthem.[1]
However, the elites in Cape Verde opposed unification, there were constitutional and legal differences, and the trade between them was minor.[1] On November 14, 1980, a coup d'état by João Bernardo Vieira against "foreign" mestiços overthrew the government of Luís Cabral (half-brother of Amílcar) in Guinea-Bissau, leading to Cape Verde separating under Pedro Pires on January 20, 1981 and forming the ruling African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV).[1][2]
1980s–2000s
From 1980 to 2000, during the Vieira presidency in Guinea-Bissau, the countries were less closely involved. Guinea-Bissau experienced a lack of development and periods of violence while Cape Verde was relatively stable. Guinea-Bissau was, like other "non-aligned" African states, closer to the Soviet Union, while Cape Verde, nominally Marxist, formed relations with Western countries due to a dependence on food imports following drought.[2] Diplomatic relations were restored after the presidents met in June 1982, and an ambassador from Cape Verde was received by Guinea-Bissau in July 1983.[1]
After multi-party politics was introduced in Cape Verde in 1990, the victorious Movimento para Democracia changed the flag and national anthem away from being similar to that of Guinea-Bissau.[1]
In the 1998 Guinea-Bissau Civil War, triggered by a crackdown on Senagelese separatists in Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde called for the withdrawal of troops from Senegal and Guinea-Conakry from Guinea-Bissau, there to support Viera. Cape Verde also opposed Viera's request for ECOWAS to send peacekeepers. Cape Verde took in refugees from Guinea-Bissau and helped to negotiate peace as part of the CPLP, with Cape Verdean foreign minister José Luís de Jesus chairing the discussions on a Portuguese warship that led to a ceasefire agreement. The Cape Verde president Peres also mediated during the violent 2005 presidential election campaign in Guinea-Bissau, and following the 2009 assassination of Vieira.[1][2]
Bilateral relations post 2010
Relations have improved since the election of Malam Bacai Sanhá in Guinea-Bissau in 2009.[1] The air connection between the countries operated by TACV, which had been suspended following the April 2012 coup in Guinea-Bissau, was restored in June 2015 during a visit of Cape Verdean Prime Minister José Maria Neves to Bissau to meet Domingos Simões Pereira and discuss economic and business relations. Neves had last visited in 2011.[4][5] The countries signed an agreement on avoiding double taxation that September.[6]
Cultural relations
Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau share the Portuguese language as their official language, and the Portuguese creole Crioulo language as a recognised language.[1]
Cape Verdean Guinea-Bissauans have formed an Associação dos Filhos e Descendentes de Cabo Verde, and Guinea-Bissauan Cape Verdeans, who number around 8–9000, have formed an Associacao dos Guineeneses Residentes em Cabo Verde. Despite their shared language and culture, immigrants from Guinea-Bissau are often viewed as "manjacos", a derogatory term used for people from mainland Africa[1] and the legalisation of Guinea-Bissauans in Cape Verde has been long delayed.[7][8]
