Guinea-Bissau
Opposition leaders set free in Guinea-Bissau

afrol.com, 2 December - According to reports from Guinea-Bissau, the Government now has released the main opposition leaders that were accused of complicity in the attempted coup by the late General Ansoumane Mane last week. While most civilians have been released, military personnel loyal to the general stay in arrest.

The French news agency AFP today reported that the politicians were released on Friday evening, just one day after coup leader Ansoumane Mane, was killed by soldiers loyal to the civilian President, Kumba Yala. The situation in Guinea-Bissau thus is turning back to normality.

Several opposition politicians were arrested between 24 and 26 November in Bissau, after stating their support to the intended coup led by General Mane, the former leader of the disbanded Military Junta, which ousted President João Bernardo Vieira in May 1999. The party leaders had publicly blamed the Government for the tense situation in the country following its appointments of military officers, which General Mane, holding no official position, was against. 

The UN, monitoring the fragile peace between civil government and the ex-Military Junta, on several occasions has asked the military to "keep out of politics". International support, both from the UN and the European Union, for President Yala was general, as Mane's deeds were seen as jeopardising the fragile democratisation process in the country, headed by Yala. The arrest of oppositional leaders supporting the general thus only were mentioned "between the lines" in statements supporting the civilian Government's quest for stability, democracy and human rights in Guinea-Bissau.

Protests however came from the Bissau-Guinean opposition parties and the renowned human rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI). AI somewhat misinterpreted the situation, naming the intended coup a "rebellion" and downplaying the President's constitutional rights appointing military officers. According to UN observators and other analysts, the Bissau-Guinean military never accepted to stay in the barracks and undermined civil governing. 

The background for several opposition parties to express support for Mane has rather been their historical contact with militaries like Mane than a democratic criticism of Yala's policy. The most prominent of the arrested party leaders, Francisco Benante, is president of the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde). The PAIGC ruled Guinea-Bissau dictatorially from independence to 1999, with due support from the military. Francisco Benante was released yesterday evening.

In addition to the PAIGC leader, the chairman and the spokesperson of the Socialist Alliance of Guinea-Bissau and the chairman and secretary-general of the Union for Change had been arrested. All were freed this night, according to AFP.

Since the first democratically elected Government in Guinea-Bissau since independence took power in February this year, a power struggle between the weak civilian Government and the "old forces" of the Military Junta and the PAIGC has crippled politics in the country. Mane, the former military strongman, opposed most key decisions of civilian President Yala, blocking its implementation. The UN, present since the democratisation process started earlier this year, has worked for the strengthening of civilian authority. Mane's failed coup and his following death may now be the factor paving the road for a true process of democratisation in Guinea-Bissau.

Yala, however, keeps making political mistakes by naming his small minority ethnicity for influential posts. Even if his Government may be the most democratic in the country's turbulent history, signs are that he is isolating himself among his owns and is loosing support from the masses.

Sources: Based on afrol archives, PANA  and UN sources

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