G Bissau polls ‘should go ahead’ despite killing

LUANDA – Guinea Bissau’s elections must not be delayed by the killing of presidential candidate Baciro Dabo by soldiers sent to arrest him over coup claims, the African Union envoy to the country said yesterday.

‘In spite of this situation, the AU considers that the elections must take place on the scheduled date,’ former Angolan foreign minister Joao Bernardo de Miranda said on state radio.
He said the polls scheduled for June 28 were ‘a first step towards the stability of the country’.
The Angolan foreign ministry also issued a statement condemning the violence and called for a ‘spirit of dialogue’ and ‘tolerance’ among the people and authorities in Guinea-Bissau.
The statement said this was ‘essential for the attainment of peace, stability and the return to constitutional normality and democracy in the country.’
The West African nation was plunged into crisis following the army’s assassinations of President Joao Bernando Vieira and the head of the armed forces General Tagme Na Waie in March.
Last week presidential candidate Dabo and former defence minister Helder Proenca were also killed. Both were considered close to Vieira.
In the wake of the violence, another presidential hopeful withdrew from the race on Saturday. Independent candidate Pedro Infanda admitted his family feared for his life.
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, which was 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. – Nampa-AFP