Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bissau (Agenzia Fides) - “President Vieira's body was taken from the Presidential Residence by ambulance,” Agenzia Fides learned from sources at the Radio Sol Mansi, a Catholic radio station in Guinea Bissau, in confirming the news of the murder of the local Head of State, during an attack on his residence by a group of soldiers. The assassination of President Vieira comes in the wake of the death of the Head of the Armed Forces, General Tagmé Na Waié.
“The streets of the capital city of Bissau are blocked by the military. Only a few people have been able to get through. There is a general state of confusion and one cannot tell who is running the country. The Cabinet is in a meeting and we await the statement they will issue in the coming hours,” Fides sources say.
Yesterday (March 1) evening, General Tagmé Na Waié was in his office in Bissau, when he was mortally wounded in an attack that wounded another five people, two of whom are in serious condition. Another military source said that the explosion of a bomb of high potency caused the destruction of a large portion of the main building of the general area where the offices of the leader's offices are located.
Just hours later, in the middle of the night, violent gunfire erupted in the vicinity of the residence of President Joao Bernardo Vieira. According to the press, a group of soldiers laid siege to the Presidential Residence, accusing him of the death of the military leader. At the beginning of the year, the General claimed that he had barely escaped a homicide attempt. Tensions had been high between President Vieira and General Na Waié.
“It is too early to make an evaluation of all that has occurred. We cannot exclude the fact that these events could have something to do with the exorbitant profits of cocaine trafficking, for which Guinea Bissau has become an important hub,” Fides sources said.
Guinea Bissau has become a key place in the movement of cocaine between Latin America and Europe, as drug traffickers take advantage of the lack of surveillance, the instability of the government, and poverty.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in Guinea Bissau there have been over 50 drug-related arrests made in the last two years, “and that is only the tip of the iceberg,” says Antonio Mazzitelli, representative of the anti-drug agency of the UN in Western and Central Africa. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 2/3/2009)
