Guinea-Bissau's PM arrested in apparent coup
Source: Agencies |
April 14, 2012, Saturday
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SOLDIERS arrested the prime minister of Guinea-Bissau, a military spokesman said yesterday, hours after the leader's home was attacked with grenades in what former colonial ruler Portugal described as a military coup.
The attacks that rocked the capital of this tiny country known for cocaine trafficking late Thursday came just two weeks before Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr was to take part in a presidential runoff election as the frontrunner.
Military press attache Francelino Cunha said that Gomes had been detained by the military. The whereabouts of the country's interim president remained unknown.
The Portuguese Foreign Ministry said it "urges the masterminds of the military coup to respect the well-being of the Guinean democratic authorities and free those who have been detained."
A communique from an unidentified military commander yesterday claimed the soldiers didn't want to seize power, but instead were trying to halt an invasion of Angolan troops.
Gomes had been favored to win the April 29 runoff after his challenger, Kumba Yala, a former president who was overthrown in a 2003 coup, said he would boycott the vote because of irregularities in the first round of balloting.
The special election was being held after Guinea-Bissau's former president died in January from diabetes-related complications. Military officials said they thwarted a coup try in December, not long before his death.
Fears of a military coup have grown since his funeral, when power was handed over to interim President Raimundo Pereira. The chronically unstable nation has been beset by coups since its independence from Portugal in 1974.
Portuguese and American officials warned their citizens against travel to the country.
"The threat of continued violence and an increased potential for political instability and civil or military unrest in Guinea-Bissau remains high," said a statement released by the US Embassy in Dakar, Senegal.
In the communique released yesterday in Bissau, an unidentified military commander claimed that Gomes was going to allow troops from Angola, another former Portuguese colony in Africa, to attack military forces in Guinea-Bissau.
Angola sent about 200 soldiers to Guinea-Bissau in March 2011 to help reform the country's army as part of a bilateral military agreement, according to Angolan state news agency Angop. Their mission recently ended but the contingent is still in Bissau, Angop said without providing further details.
"The military command does not want power but it was forced to act in this way to defend itself from the diplomatic maneuvers of the Guinea-Bissau government, which aims to annihilate the (country's) armed forces using foreign military force," the communique said, according to the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
It claimed it possesses a "secret document" drawn up by the Guinea-Bissau government mandating Angola to attack Guinea-Bissau's military. It was impossible to independently verify the claim.
Angolan Defense Minister Candido Pereira Van-Dunem said in Luanda that his country would "continue to provide full support" to Guinea-Bissau, with which Angola has "excellent ties," Angop reported.
The attacks that rocked the capital of this tiny country known for cocaine trafficking late Thursday came just two weeks before Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr was to take part in a presidential runoff election as the frontrunner.
Military press attache Francelino Cunha said that Gomes had been detained by the military. The whereabouts of the country's interim president remained unknown.
The Portuguese Foreign Ministry said it "urges the masterminds of the military coup to respect the well-being of the Guinean democratic authorities and free those who have been detained."
A communique from an unidentified military commander yesterday claimed the soldiers didn't want to seize power, but instead were trying to halt an invasion of Angolan troops.
Gomes had been favored to win the April 29 runoff after his challenger, Kumba Yala, a former president who was overthrown in a 2003 coup, said he would boycott the vote because of irregularities in the first round of balloting.
The special election was being held after Guinea-Bissau's former president died in January from diabetes-related complications. Military officials said they thwarted a coup try in December, not long before his death.
Fears of a military coup have grown since his funeral, when power was handed over to interim President Raimundo Pereira. The chronically unstable nation has been beset by coups since its independence from Portugal in 1974.
Portuguese and American officials warned their citizens against travel to the country.
"The threat of continued violence and an increased potential for political instability and civil or military unrest in Guinea-Bissau remains high," said a statement released by the US Embassy in Dakar, Senegal.
In the communique released yesterday in Bissau, an unidentified military commander claimed that Gomes was going to allow troops from Angola, another former Portuguese colony in Africa, to attack military forces in Guinea-Bissau.
Angola sent about 200 soldiers to Guinea-Bissau in March 2011 to help reform the country's army as part of a bilateral military agreement, according to Angolan state news agency Angop. Their mission recently ended but the contingent is still in Bissau, Angop said without providing further details.
"The military command does not want power but it was forced to act in this way to defend itself from the diplomatic maneuvers of the Guinea-Bissau government, which aims to annihilate the (country's) armed forces using foreign military force," the communique said, according to the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
It claimed it possesses a "secret document" drawn up by the Guinea-Bissau government mandating Angola to attack Guinea-Bissau's military. It was impossible to independently verify the claim.
Angolan Defense Minister Candido Pereira Van-Dunem said in Luanda that his country would "continue to provide full support" to Guinea-Bissau, with which Angola has "excellent ties," Angop reported.
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