AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU - Coups attempt in Guinea Bissau: Overview

Bissau (Agenzia Fides) – On June 28, Guinea Bissau is scheduled to hold presidential elections, as a result of the death of President Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira, who was killed on March 2 by a group of soldiers that accused him of having been responsible for the death of Chief of Staff General Tagme Na Waie, who had been assassinated just hours before (see Fides 2/3/2009). Among the presidential candidates was Baciro Dabo, Minister of the Territorial Administration, who was killed today, June 5, for resisting arrest by military police. Dabo, the statement from the Internal Affairs Ministry says, is accused of being one of the leaders in an alleged coups plot organized by a “self-proclaimed High Command of Republican Forces for the Restoration of the Constitutional and Democratic Order.”
Among the conspirators are also Helder Proenca (former Defense Minister), Roberto Cacheu, and Francisco Conduto de Pina. These three people, along with Dabo, are all leading members of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the historic movement for independence from colonialism that later became the only party in the country for at least 20 years. Dabo was considered as a “close collaborator” of the assassinated President, “Nino” Vieira.
According to the Portuguese agency Lusa, Proenca was killed by gunshots while on the highway between Bula and Bissau. The driver and bodyguard were also killed.
The testimonies from the international press on the circumstances surrounding the death of Proenca and Dabo stray from the official version, which says that the two resisted arrest, along with their bodyguards. According to the agency “France Press,” Dabo was killed in his bedroom by a group of soldiers who had entered the house around 4am, after having left the house guards incapacitated.
The circumstances surrounding the death of President Vieira and the Chief of Staff are not clear either. In mid-May, the country's General Procurator, Luis Manuel Cabral, had declared that he could no longer continue investigations on the two murders due to “lack of funds.” Six people have been arrested in connection to the attack on General Tagme Na Waie.
Guinea Bissau has become a hub for cocaine trafficking from between Latin America and Europe, which passes through western Africa, taking advantage of the weakness of the police force and the local judicial system. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 5/6/2009)