Dark Days in Guinea Bissau

In the small hours of yesterday morning (Monday, 2 March 2009), President Joao Bernardo Vierra of Guinea Bissau was shot and killed as he tried to flee from his home which was under attack from a group of Army officers.

Only a few hours earlier on Sunday evening, the head of Guinea Bissau’s armed forces, General Tagme Na Waie, had died when a bomb exploded at his office. According to the General, a first attempt had already been made on his life in January this year.

It is said that the President’s assassination was an act of revenge for General Tagme Na Waie’s death but this was not the first attempt on the President’s life: two of his personal guards died in an earlier attack on the Presidential residence on 23 November 2008.

Despite disrupted telecommunications, Mr Domingos Alvarenga of Budd’s Guinea Bissau office succeeded in telephoning Budd’s Regional Manager, Mr Fode Mario Camara (Conakry, Guinea), to report.

As a result of the state media blackout, it is very difficult for anyone to know precisely what is happening although it would appear that there is a strong military presence at the airport and it seems likely that this will also be the case at the port.

The people of Guinea Bissau are continuing to go about their business, albeit somewhat cautiously and with one ear glued to the private sector radio stations, as they wait for the full consequences of the deaths become apparent.

Watch this space for updates.

06 Jul 2009 - 15:27:20