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Guinea-Bissau Blitz Slammed By Peers After Assassination Of Presidential Candidate
7 June 2009
Bissau - Guinea-Bissau was slammed by regional African peers on Saturday for a crackdown that killed a presidential candidate, an ex-minister and two others, as another candidate withdrew over safety fears. But reports that former Guinea-Bissau prime minister Faustino Fudut Imbali had been also been killed were denied by a military source, who said Imbali was being held in secret after being severely beaten by police. The trail of blood "has made the political situation in Guinea-Bissau more fragile... at a time when the country is preparing to organise presidential elections for June 28," said Mohamed Ibn Chambas, head of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, in a statement issued to reporters. Chambas denounced the killings as a "reprehensible act which saps democracy, peace and stability in Guinea Bissau" and called for an inquiry. Government soldiers on Friday killed territorial administration minister and presidential candidate Baciro Dabo, and former defence minister Helder Proenca, officials accusing them of having been plotting a coup. The interior ministry said Dabo and Proenca were killed when security forces tried to arrest them over charges that they were among nine coup plotters led by Proenca. Both men were considered close to the late president Joao Bernardo Vieira, who was killed by the army in March. But military chiefs said they had decided to keep Imbali in detention although they were keeping the details secret, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He is alive and detained by the military police. He has been severely beaten by soldiers who went to arrest him. I confirm that he is not dead and he is receiving treatment," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to the interior ministry, the plotters aimed to "physically eliminate" Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and the acting military chief of staff, naval commander Jose Zamora Induta. Proenca was killed "in an exchange of gunfire between security men sent to arrest him and members of his personal guard", the ministry said. One of his bodyguards and a chauffeur also died. "It was during an attempted arrest, which Baciro Dabo is reported to have resisted, that he was killed by members of the armed forces who came to arrest him," an official statement said. In the wake of the violence, another presidential hopeful withdrew from the election race on Saturday. Independent candidate Pedro Infanda admitted his family feared for his life. "When the army, which is meant to guarantee security, is the perpetrator of crimes such as those committed Friday, who could we expect to protect us during campaigning and on the day of the vote?" he said. Guinea-Bissau has been wracked by coups and political unrest since gaining independence from Portugal in 1974. Representatives of the international community have called for the June 28 election date to remain. But campaigning, due to begin on Saturday, has been delayed indefinitely. In recent years the poor West African country has achieved notoriety as a transit point for the cocaine trade between South America and Europe, raising the stakes in power feuds between political and military leaders. - AFP
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