Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bissau (Agenzia Fides)- On the eve of 28 June presidential elections, the situation in Guinea Bissau appears calm, Fides learned from local Catholic sources in the capital Bissau. “The electoral campaign is peacefully coming to a close, this evening the candidates will give their final addresses here in the capital, after travelling around the provinces over the past weeks ”.
However the electoral campaign was disturbed by the tragic and so far mysterious death, of one of the candidates for Presidency, Baciro Dabou, killed by police, officially while trying to escape arrest on charges of involvement in a presumed coup (see Fides 5/6/2009). “Almost 3 weeks since Dabou was killed, still nothing is known about the presumed coup ” the local Church sources told Fides. “Several people are still detained by the police in relation with the coup of which little or nothing is known. The killing of Dabou, an independent candidate, but connected with the deceased President “Nino” Vieira, is to be related to a settling of scores in Vieira camp, with the probable implication of Latin American drug traffickers, who have made Guinea Bissau their principal base in West Africa”. Besides Dabou the gendarmes also shot former minister of defence, Helder Proença, he too, officially, for resisting arrest.
Presidential elections became necessary after the death of President Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira, killed by a group of military which accused him of being the person behind the attack, in which Army Chief of Staff , general Tagmé Na Waié, was killed (see Fides 2/3/2009).
“Despite these episodes, the electoral campaign has continued calmly, with several candidates travelling around the country for rallies ” the sources told Fides. Besides political rallies, the competitors used radio and TV appeals to promote their candidatures. Others relied on a truck with a platform from which young men with megaphones used songs and announcements to urge the people to vote for their candidate. Joint appeals for peaceful elections were launched by religious leaders, Catholics, Evangelicals and Muslims.
Of 11 candidates, according to local observers 3 have a chance of winning: former President Kumba Yala, elected in 2000 and overthrown with an army coup in 2003, and two former Presidents ad interim: Malam Bacai Sanha, who led the country from June 1999 to May 2000 following the army coup against Vieira, the candidate of PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, once the only political party ); and Henrique Rosa, who assumed interim presidency from September 2003 to October 2005, who presents himself as an independent.
“The law does not allow pre-electoral surveys, so it is difficult to forecast a winner; the only criteria of judgement we have is participation at electoral rallies. And it was rallies for Henrique Rosa and Kumba Yala which drew the largest crowds” Fides sources conclude.
However political life in Guinea Bissau continues to feel the weight of drug traffickers with powerful means for corrupting politicians and government officials, and the army, which ahs often intervened to depose presidents: since 1994, when multiparty system was restored, no head of state has ever finished the five year term of office naturally. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 26/6/2009 righe 42 parole 567)
