Ex-Guinea-Bissau ruling party rejects Ecowas proposal on crisis

DAKAR, Sunday

The former and longest ruling party in Guinea-Bissau, Paigc, has announced that it will not name a new candidate to head the transition as recommended by the regional grouping Ecowas.

The recommendation was among several others made last Thursday in Dakar by the region’s leaders in a bid to resolve the politico-military stalemate in the coup-infested country.

A statement by the country’s national broadcaster yesterday quoting the Paigc secretariat said renaming another candidate was tantamount to withdrawing the party’s loyalty to the ousted interim leader.

It was the opinion of the leaders that a new candidate would be acceptable to the military junta in a bid to push forward the process of returning the country to constitutional rule with the holding of fresh elections.

The military junta which ousted and expelled Mr Periera and the former premier Carlos Gomes to Cote d’Ivoire agreed to all other conditions subsequently laid by Ecowas besides re-installing Mr Perieira.

The junta is angrily opposed to the leadership of Mr Pereira and the candidacy for the presidency of Mr Gomes both of whom are members of the Paigc and accused of sealing an agreement with Angola to bring in an “invasion force”.

Due to the many military coups in the country blamed on the unprofessional and ethnically-divided army, it was rumored that the two leaders had turned to Angola to train and restructure the military.

Mr Pereira who was president of the national assembly, constitutionally became interim president of the country following the death of democratically elected leader Malam Becai Sanha early this year.

The junta named Serifo Nhamadjo, a dissident of the Paigc party to stand in Mr Pereira’s stead but the latter refused.