Guinea-Bissau’s president has dismissed the government amid mounting tensions between the leader and the prime minister.
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August 14 Guinea Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz opened talks with the country’s main political parties on Friday to form a new government, after he fired the previous cabinet in a power struggle with the prime minister.
Tensions, fed by overlapping duties in Guinea Bissau’s semi-presidential system, have grown between the two men since civilian rule was restored to the chronically unstable West African nation in June last year following a 2012 coup.
The announcement was made on State radio and television stations late Wednesday.
Vaz also raised the closure of the border with Guinea over an Ebola outbreak and cited problems of corruption and nepotism, a lack of transparency in public procurement and alleged obstruction of the judiciary.
We call on leaders to seek dialogue and consensus in resolving this crisis in a manner that both serves the best interests of the Bissau-Guinean people and that establishes a clear outline of roles in order to avoid prolonged political crisis now and in the future.
Last week, Pereira had said his government would likely be dissolved due to differences of opinion with Vaz.
And in May, the worldwide Monetary Fund also hailed the country’s progress on economic reform, saying it had become eligible for a $23.9-million loan.
The military coup brought chaos to a country already in the grip of powerful cocaine cartels and beset by political violence.
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Since gaining independence in 1974, Guinea-Bissau’s army and state have remained in constant conflict, and no president has completed a full term in office.
