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Envoys in Guinea-Bissau to head off possible coup
African and Portuguese-speaking envoys flew to Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday to try to head off a possible coup after the president and army chief were killed. Soldiers guarded strategic locations in the capital Bissau and local media said the National Assembly would meet on Tuesday.They murdered the head of state after the army chief was murdered, but that wasn't a coup. It was just murder. The army has denied any wish to seize power, but it was unclear who controlled the poor former Portuguese colony of 1,6-million, where the involvement of drug traffickers has worsened years of instability. The borders remained closed. President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira and his long-standing rival General Batista Tagme Na Wai, the armed forces chief, were killed in separate attacks hours apart on Sunday and Monday. "The African Union [AU] appeals urgently to the political parties and actors of this country to exercise restraint and refrain from plunging the country once again into a spiral of power struggle," the continental body said in a statement. "The AU underscores the need to make every effort to avoid the use of violence and power-grabbing as a means of settling disputes," it said, adding it would send an envoy to Bissau "to assess the situation and prevent it from worsening". The AU suspended neighbouring Guinea after a coup in December following the death of its president. Senior envoys from Portuguese-speaking countries, including Portuguese State Secretary for Foreign Relations and Cooperation Joao Gomes Cravinho, arrived in Bissau on Tuesday. "We maintain constant telephone contact, but actually being there sends a different kind of a signal and gives another opportunity to talk. At this moment there is no indication of a need for any international or military force for Guinea-Bissau," Cravinho said on Portugal's SIC television before he set off. Posted by: Fred 2009-03-04 |
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