In Guinea-Bissau, the FARP is focused on external security, but also has some internal security duties, and it has been influential in the country’s politics since independence was gained in 1974, having staged at least nine coup attempts as well as several mutinies; FARP members were suspected of coup plotting as recently as 2021, and it put down an attempted coup in 2022, while the National Guard attempted a coup in December 2023; since the 2000s, the FARP has undergone various attempts at defense and security sector reforms under the auspices of the African Union, the EU, the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS), and the UN 

from 2012-2020, ECOWAS deployed a security force to Guinea-Bissau to manage the post-coup transition, including protecting key political figures and public buildings, restoring civil institutions, and re-establishing the rule of law; the ECOWAS mission withdrew at the end of 2020, but returned in mid-2022 after the attempted coup in February 2022 (2024)