Guinea-Bissau

Country in West Africa, bounded north by Senegal, east and southeast by Guinea, and southwest by the Atlantic Ocean.

Government

The 1984 constitution was amended in 1991 to legalize parties other than the African Party for the Independence of Portuguese Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). Although Cape Verde chose independence, the title of the original party that served the two countries was retained. The amended constitution provides for a 100-member national assembly, chosen from eight directly elected regional councils. The regional councils elect the president, who is head of state, for a five-year term. The president appoints a prime minister.

History

Guinea-Bissau was first reached by Europeans when the Portuguese arrived in 1446 and it became a slave-trading centre. Until 1879 it was administered with the Cape Verde Islands, but then became a separate colony under the name of Portuguese Guinea.

Nationalist groups began to form in the 1950s, and PAIGC was established in 1956. Portugal refused to grant independence, fighting broke out, and by 1972 PAIGC claimed to control two-thirds of the country. In 1973 the ‘liberated areas’ were declared independent, a national people's assembly was set up, and Luiz Cabral was appointed president of a state council. Some 40,000 Portuguese troops were engaged in trying to put down the uprising and suffered heavy losses, but before a clear outcome was reached a coup in Portugal ended the fighting, and PAIGC negotiated independence with the new government in Lisbon.

After independence

In 1974 Portugal formally acknowledged Guinea-Bissau as a sovereign nation. PAIGC began to lay the foundations of a socialist state, intended to include Cape Verde, but in 1980, four days before approval of the constitution, Cape Verde withdrew, feeling that Guinea-Bissau was being given preferential treatment. A coup deposed Cabral, and João Vieira became chair of a council of revolution.

At its 1981 congress, PAIGC decided to retain its name, despite Cape Verde's withdrawal, and its position as the only party was confirmed, with Vieira as secretary general. Normal relations between the two countries were restored in 1982. In 1984 a new constitution made Vieira head of government as well as head of state, and in 1989 he was re-elected for another five-year term. In 1991 PAIGC approved the introduction of ‘integral multipartyism’ and in the following year a multiparty electoral commission was established. In the first multiparty elections in July 1994 the PAIGC won a clear majority. Vieira won the concurrent presidential elections by a narrow margin.

The beginning of violence

Fighting broke out in June 1998, sparked by a military rebellion led by the sacked general Ansumane Mane and aimed at toppling the government of President Vieira. Government loyalists and troops sent from Senegal and Guinea drove rebels from their main barracks stronghold in Bissau, but fighting continued elsewhere in the city. Senegal closed its border with Guinea-Bissau as soon as the revolt broke out but let in refugees on humanitarian grounds. The rebellion displaced half the country's population.

A ceasefire was agreed at the end of June. In November 1998 a plan brokered by the 16-nation Economic Community of West African States and the former colonial power, Portugal, was agreed. The plan led to the deployment of peace-keeping troops and envisaged presidential elections in March 1999, though it did not include plans for disarming the rebel army, and fighting returned to Bissau in early February 1999. In May rebel forces took control of the country, ousting President Vieira. Elections the following year made Kumba Yalla president, and Caetano N'Tchama the prime minister.

In November 2000, General Mane again challenged the presidency, declaring himself head of the army. The armed forces split, but after a day of fighting in Bissau, which caused many civilians to flee the city, Mane withdrew and was later arrested.

In January 2001, the Resistência da Guiné-Bissau-Movimento Bafatá (RGB; Resistance of Guinea-Bissau Bafatá Movement), withdrew from the ruling coalition with the Partido para a Renovaçao Social (PRS; Party for Social Renewal). The following month, Prime Minister N'Tchama was dismissed by President Yalla, and replaced by Faustino Imbali.

The interior minister of Guinea-Bissau, Alamara Nhasse, announced that security forces had prevented an attempted coup on 2 December 2001.

Leadership changes

Yalla was ousted in a military coup in September 2003. Henrique Rosa stepped in as interim president until 2005, when former military ruler João Bernardo Vieira emerged victorious in presidential elections.