Guinea-Bissau's govt dismissed
2005-10-29 13:25
Bissau - Guinea-Bissau's new President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira has sacked the government of Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, the president's office said in a statement on Saturday.
Vieira, elected president of the coup-prone west African nation in July, invoked article five of the constitution which allows the president to dissolve the government "in case of a crisis where the stability of the country and the functioning of institutions are at risk," the statement said.
On October 20 Vieira said Guinea-Bissau was facing a "deep social, economic and political crisis" after 14 of the ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde's 45 members of parliament split with the party.
The rebel lawmakers aligned themselves two weeks ago with the main opposition Social Renovation Party (PRS) and the United Social Democratic Party (PUSD) to form the Convergence Forum for Development (CDF).
The CDF umbrella group is headed by the leader of the PUSD, Francisco Fadul, and is made up mostly of lawmakers who supported Vieira in the presidential election against the candidate of the ruling PAIGC.
The PRS has 35 seats in the 100-seat assembly while the PUSD has 17.
Vieira, who was overthrown in 1999 by the armed forces after 19 years of iron-fisted rule, said the crisis "seriously compromises the sustainability of the policies and strategies of governance."
He controversially returned from six years in exile in Portugal to run in the election as an independent in the nation of 1.3 million.
Guinea-Bissau, one of the world's poorest nations, won independence from Portugal in 1974 but has had a chequered history of coups and military dictatorships every since.