International Crisis Group

Division and Stasis in Guinea-Bissau | AllAfrica

Dakar-Bissau — On 16 May a transition pact brokered by the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) and signed by all parties except the majority PAIGC [African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde] - officially nominated Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo as Interim President of Guinea-Bissau for one year. The decision was made after weeks of political wrangling following a military coup on 12 April that interrupted presidential elections, in which ex- Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior from the PAIGC party was the clear front-runner. While many fear the decision to install Nhamadjo will lead to yet more division in the politically polarized nation, others just want the country to get back on track economically, since markets and basic services have more or less been at a standstill since the latest coup.

FULL ARTICLE (AllAfrica)

McClatchy Newspapers | Tiny Guinea-Bissau has big role in drug smuggling, and seems likely to keep it

BY Chris Collins

BUBAQUE, GUINEA-BISSAU — Last year, as children played on the beach of this tropical island, splashing in the ocean and kicking soccer balls through makeshift goals in the sand, a small turboprop plane flew overhead, drowning out conversations below with the steady hum of its engine.

Calvario Ahukharie, the head of Interpol in Guinea-Bissau, had been resting in the shade while sipping wine from a plastic cup. He looked up.

Another drug plane, Ahukharie recently recalled thinking. Another criminal turning my country into a cocaine warehouse.

Guinea-Bissau, on the west coast of Africa, is one of the smallest and poorest countries in the world, but it has a big claim to fame: It’s become a key hub for South American drug traffickers looking to make a few hundred million dollars a year shipping their goods to Europe via West Africa.

As a way station, it is ideal, just a four-hour flight from Brazil, with dozens of unpopulated islands for drug-bearing planes to land. And it is virtually risk free. Other than the underfunded Interpol office, Western police agencies, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, don’t have much of a presence. More importantly, the country’s military is known to be deeply involved in the drug trade, guaranteeing that even if a shipment is detected, police intervention is useless.

Indeed, protecting the drug trade is thought to have been one of the primary motives behind a military coup here last month that saw the army take control of the nation just two weeks ahead of a presidential runoff election. The target of the coup, former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr., had been widely expected to win the presidency and had promised to approve internationally backed plans to downsize the bloated and unwieldy military and put an end to the drug traffickers’ payoffs that privates and officers alike have come to rely on.

FULL ARTICLE (Kansas City Star)

IRIN | ANALYSIS: Development setback after latest Guinea-Bissau coup

The UN Security Council has threatened sanctions; and the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLC) has proposed sending “peacekeepers” to the country. 

On 12 April military leaders detained Prime Minister and presidential candidate Carols Gomes Jr (known as Cadogo) and interim President Raimundo Pereira, going on to appoint failed presidential candidate Manuel Serifo Nhamajo as president of a proposed two-year transitional government in a move which the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) deemed “illegal” and which has also been strongly condemned by the UN Security Council, European Union, African Union and CPLC. 

Since 1994 no elected president in Guinea-Bissau has finished his mandate. 

Sanctions 

The UN Security Council on 21 April threatened to impose sanctions against coup-leaders. Following this announcement, the Junta allegedly shifted its hardline stance, telling a reporter the two-year transition government was just a proposal, according to one international press report. ECOWAS communications director Sonny Ugoh announced on 19 April that it was “completely taken aback” by the transition proposal. 

The CPLC has taken a more hardline approach from the start, pushing for a peacekeeping intervention force. Following a 19 April meeting of the UN Security Council, Guinea-Bissau Foreign Minister Mamadu Saliu Djalo praised the idea of sending a peacekeeping force to the country. But no final decision has been made. 

Several Bissau residents IRIN spoke to welcomed the notion of foreign intervention. Deolinda Tavares, a 65-year-old market-seller, told IRIN: “We have tarnished our image and our credibility is forever lost to the world.” 

Alimatou Touré, a 50-year-old housewife is outraged and fed up. “This is not a normal situation in which we live… Democracy is the only way that people can follow to be free and sovereign.” 

However, Guinea-Bissau expert Vincent Foucher of the International Crisis Group fears an international intervention against the junta, which has no consent from the army, could lead to bloodshed in a situation which has thus far been death-free; and could radicalize, criminalize, and factionalize the military junta leaders. “In this case, while it is essential to have it in the toolkit to demonstrate that the international community means business, it is far too early to use it - negotiation is what is needed now,” he told IRIN. 

FULL ARTICLE (IRIN)

One of the two finalists in Guinea-Bissau’s presidential poll says he will not participate in a runoff election, citing alleged fraud in the first round.

While it remains to be seen whether the fraud allegations will stand up, it is the latest in a string of events since the March 18 election shaking up what is already a fragile electoral process.

Provisional results of Sunday’s presidential election show former president Kumba Yala taking second place to former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior. A run-off is set for April 22, but Yala now says he will not take part.

“We do not recognize the results of this fraudulent election,” Yala said to reporters Thursday. “We are democratic and we demand transparent polls, [and] there is ample evidence of fraud.”

While national and international observers have said the poll was free and fair, four other opposition candidates have joined Yala in contesting the results.

Vincent Foucher, West Africa senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said although Yala seems intensely defiant in his rejection, so are other opposition candidates.

“All significant opposition figures are in this together and have rejected the results. Definitely they are rocking the political boat,” said Foucher. “The question is, are they sure they have sufficient grounds to do that and to take this responsibility. If they are, it’s only fair that they protest against an election which they don’t regard as correct. But are they sure, really?”

FULL ARTICLE (Voice of America)

Photo: Kumba Yala campaigning, Nammarci/Wikimedia Commons