The government of Guinea-Bissau has suspended two major Portuguese news agencies and ordered their journalists to leave the country.

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 on Friday.

Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was supposed to be in Lisbon on 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. Guinea-Bissau gained independence from its colonial ruler, Portugal, in 1974.

Ambassador summoned

The Portuguese government said the decision on the media outlets ‘‘appears highly reprehensible and unjustifiable".

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

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.