| More on the latest tiresome coup attempt... |
The government of Guinea-Bissau has signed an agreement with a group of soldiers who staged a mutiny last week, promising them an amnesty and the appointment of a new military high command. The memorandum of understanding, signed on Sunday night, pardons the mutineers who took to the streets of Bissau demanding the settlement of pay arrears. It also pardons all other military personnel who took part in military uprisings since the country's first coup d'etat in 1980. However, before the amnesty becomes effective, it must be endorsed by parliament.
| They'll do that, or the parliament will get shot up... |
The agreement, which was signed by Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, stipulated that President Henrique Rosa, should appoint a new chief of staff of the armed forces.
| "Hey! We need a new chief of staff! This guy's dead!" |
The soldiers who took part in last week's uprising killed the previous head of the armed forces, General Verissimo Correia Seabra, along with Colonel Domingos de Barros, the head of human resources of the military establishment. The commanders of the army, navy and air force, and several other high-ranking officers went into hiding when the mutiny began on Wednesday. Diplomatic sources said they had taken refuge in western embassies and were still there on Monday.
| "Come out? Is it over yet?" |
The army mutiny was staged by a batallion of 600 soldiers which recently completed a nine-month tour with the UN peacekeeping force in Liberia. However, it did not spread to the rest of the armed forces. Most military units remained sidelined from the dispute.
| "You guys got any popcorn?" |
The mutineers themselves insisted all along that they were simply demanding the payment of long-standing salary arrears and the improvement of poor living conditions in military barracks. However diplomats in West Africa said there also appears to have been a political agenda behind the revolt, which Portugal, the former colonial power in Guinea-Bissau, described as attempted coup. Certainly, their main achievements have been political. The mutineers have got rid of the head of the armed forces and have secured impunity from prosecution for all those who attempted to overthrow successive governments over the past 24 years. |