President Jose Mario Vaz
Guinea-Bissau has formed a new government, ending a two-month political stalemate in the coup-plagued west African nation.
The country has been in turmoil since President Jose
Mario Vaz fired prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira on August 12
over a series of disputes, placing the head of state at loggerheads with
his ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde.
The new team includes 15 ministers and 14
secretaries of state, mostly from the previous government and the ruling
PAIGC, according to a presidential decree issued early Tuesday (local
time).
Instability in Guinea-Bissau, which gained
independence from Portugal in 1974 after a war with its colonial power
lasting more than 10 years, is nothing new.
The country has suffered intermittent unrest since
its liberation, as well as a series of military coups attributed largely
to the unprecedented bloating of the army after the war.
The chronic volatility has fanned poverty in the
country of 1.6 million, with few resources other than cashew nuts and
fish, attracting South American drug cartels who turned it into a
cocaine-trafficking hub.
AFP
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