G-Bissau's ousted interim PM returns home
2012-06-01 10:24
Bissau - Guinea-Bissau's interim prime minister returned to her home on Thursday after seeking refuge at local European Union premises following a coup d’état in April, she told AFP.
Adiato Djalo Nandigna was appointed to the post when prime minister Carlos Gomes Junior resigned to allow him to run in a presidential election, which was aborted by the coup before a second round of voting due on 29 April.
"I am doing well. I deplore the fact that my house was pillaged. They carried everything away and broke valuable objects," Nandigna, former communications minister, told AFP at her house.
Former elections chief Desejado Lima da Costa - on Wednesday reported to have fled to Gambia along with ex-army chief Jose Zamora Induta and interior minister Fernando Gomes - was however still in Bissau and also left the EU premises on Thursday.
An ally of Costa said he was bewildered at reports he was being detained in Banjul, and that he had been invited to leave with Induta and Gomes but had "declined the invitation".
On Wednesday Gambia's immigration ministry named Costa as one of the three officials who had entered Banjul, adding they were being detained "for security reasons".
A statement from President Yahya Jammeh's office in Banjul on Thursday confirmed only the presence of Induta and Gomes.
"The Government of the Gambia would like to inform the public that it has received Guinea Bissau's former army chief Jose Zamora Induta and interior minister Fernando Gomes in the Gambia following recent political upheavals in that country," the presidency announced.
"In light of this development, the Government of the Gambia welcomes them to stay in the country since they are not criminals and are good citizens of Ecowas [Economic Community of West African States]," the presidency said.
An immigration source at the border between Gambia and Senegal said: "These people were held initially when they arrived, but after a thorough screening, they were released."
Last week coup leaders vowed to return to their barracks after transitional authorities formed a new government including a colonel who joined the coup but excluding the former ruling party.
- SAPA
