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Coup: Uneasy Calm in Guinea Bissau

This Day (Lagos)
NEWS
September 16, 2003
Posted to the web September 16, 2003

By Andrew Ahiante And Paul Ohia With Agency Report
Lagos
Barely 32 hours after the military coup that ousted President Kumba Yala of
Guinea-Bissau, normalcy is gradually returning to the country with human and
vehicle traffic now on the streets of major cities.
Yesterday the new military leader, General Verissimo Correia Seabre, held talks
with leaders of political parties and other groups.
Subsequently, soldiers headed back to their barracks while the international
airport is expected to re-open soon.
Several African countries including Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa, as well
as the United Nations and Portugal, have condemned the coup.
But there is said to be relief among many ordinary people in Bissau that
President Kumba Yala is gone. The deposed president was often criticised for
his erratic leadership.
Seabre, the new military leader, said he will remain leader until elections are
organised in the West African state.
The military authorities said the meetings are part of efforts to establish a
transitional, civilian-led government. A delegation of West African foreign
ministers are also expected to fly in for talks.
The coup leaders said they are planning to set up a transitional government to
include "all national political orientations".
But in a telephone call with the president of neighbouring Senegal, the army
chief of staff was urged to hand power back to the country's elected president.
President Abdoulaye Wade said that the African Union would not recognise
whatever government General Seabre planned to instal and asked him to "devolve
power back to President Kumba Yala".
A communique from the army said the deposed president would be transferred on
Monday from Bissau's main army barracks to his private residence.
President Yalla dissolved the government last November, promising new elections
but the polls have been postponed four times since.
Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest countries in the world and has been beset
by food shortages and strikes. It has never really recovered from an army
revolt and then a war in the late 1990s.
The secretary general of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, said in June that
the country was embarking on a downward course.
The Organisation of West African States recently said it was worried, not least
by the silencing of political opponents of the president.
Meanwhile, the Interim Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU),
Mr. Amara Essy, has condemned the coup in Guinea Bissau.
A media advisory from the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia described
the coup as "contrary to the principles enshrined in the Constitutive Act of
the African Union, as well as the Algiers Decision and the Lome Declaration on
Unconstitutional Changes of Government".
"The Interim Chairperson strongly appeals to the perpetrators of the coup to
release the Head of State and the other personalities who are detained and to
restore constitutional order. The AU will work closely with ECOWAS for the
restoration of the constitutional order and for the promotion of stability in
Guinea-Bissau", the media advisory further said.

   

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