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Guinea-Bissau junta gives 2-year timeframe
| But I think we all saw this coming... |
BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau: Guinea-Bissaus military leaders said Thursday they had agreed on a candidate to lead a transitional government, though the proposed two-year timeframe for organizing new elections after last weeks coup was unlikely to appease the international community.
| Two years is long enough for the coup-plotters to pry up everything that's presently nailed down... |
Manuel Serifo Nhamajo, who has served as vice president of the National Assembly, was chosen by junta authorities and the opposition parties who took part in the process. The overthrown ruling party was not involved and later said it rejects any government stemming from a coup detat.
| Sure, you'd expect them to say that, but they're the ones on the bottom right now... |
In New York, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday heard calls for deployment of a UN force from the foreign minister in the countrys ousted government and the representative of Portuguese-speaking countries.
Guinea-Bissaus Foreign Minister Mamadu Saliu Djalo, who was out of the country when soldiers violently took over the presidency on April 12, begged the council to authorize a peacekeeping force with a long-term mandate to allow for the establishment of a legitimate democratic state in the Republic of Guinea-Bissau.
| Send in the mighty Uruguayans! |
Ambassador Youssoufou Bamba of Ivory Coast, speaking on behalf of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, said it intended to deploy a military contingent to the West African nation, which is allowed under a UN Charter provision dealing with regional organizations.
The ECOWAS mission will ensure the protection of VIPs and institutions as well as the envisaged transition and electoral process, Bamba said.
Angolas Foreign Minister Georges Rebelo Chikoti, speaking on behalf of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, urged the council to create a peacekeeping force and take measures to restore constitutional order.
Among those taking part in planning a transitional government was the party of Kumba Yala, one of the two presidential candidates in a runoff vote that was derailed by the coup. Guinea-Bissau was just weeks away from holding a presidential runoff election when soldiers attacked the front-runners home and arrested him along with the countrys interim president.
Posted by: Steve White 2012-04-21 |
