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History:
An agreement
signed in 1886, saw colonial boundaries being defined for the
Portuguese-occupied region of West Africa. Guinea Bissau was formed as
part of this. It had been a major slave trade centre ever since the
Portuguese occupied the region in the mid 15th century. For
some time until1879 it was administered in union with the Cape Verde
islands after which it was called Portuguese Guinea
till it gained independence after a long war waged between 1963 and
1974, the rebel side led by Amilcar Cabral, a man looked upon with deference in the nation.
The Republic of Guinea Bissau became independent in 1973,
with Cabral as President of the State Council.
The colonial authorities made a sudden departure in 1974 after a
military coup in Portugal as a result of the heavy losses sustained by
the army in Guinea Bissau. In Sepember, the same year, Portugal
formally acknowledged the independence of the country. The next 25
years saw the rule of the leader of the Partido Africano da Independencia da Guine e Cabo Verde
(PAIGC), Joao Vieira, formerly chief of the armed forces. It continued
as a single-party state till 1990 when the government began a process
of political reform. This led to multi-party elections being held in
1994 in which the PAIGC secured a clear majority in the National
People’s Assembly while Vieira secured the presidency at the run-off
stage. But by the end of 1990, the country’s economy and security took
a downslide. There were tensions with its neighbour, Senegal, which
began with an issue over maritime borders in 1989, however a settlement
was reached in the form of a bilateral agreement in October 1993. The
bombing of the village of Ponta Rosa in Guinea-Bissau, by the
Senegalese air force in February 1995 damaged the relations again to be
resolved yet again by diplomatic mediation only for a short spell.
1998 saw a full-scale war breaking out in the country. an army chief who had been sacked on suspicion of
smuggling arms to rebels started a rebellion for for autonomy in
Senegal’s southern province of Casamance. Attempts to quell the
rebellion in the form of troops from Senegal and Guinea sent to
Vieira’s aid and mediations to restore peace by France, Libya and the
Gambia were made. However, Vieira was bent on routing the rebels with
no patience for dialogue. Finally, the two sides reached a temporary
truce, mediated by the Nigerians, in November 1998, but fighting again
broke out in May 1999. The rebels under General Ansumane Mane managed
to oust and exile Vieira, (who sought refuge in Portugal) and promised
an early return to civilian government. They kept their promise with
elections in January 2000 in which the Partido para a
Renovacao Social (PRS) defeated the old PAIGC and another new
party, the Resistencia da Guine-Bissau (RGB),
for the presidency, and also became the largest single party (though
without an overall majority) in the National Assembly. The leader of
the PRS, Kumba Iala, who is current president, faced one of the many
more attempted military coups. As a man who is increasingly becoming an
isolated figure, he faces the threat of pandemonium taking over the
reins of his nation. The years 2001 and 2002, saw the dismissal of
several government ministers and senior members of the judiciary after
a further coup plot was uncovered.
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