President Vieira has ruled intermittently since 1980
Renegade soldiers have shot dead the president of the West African
country of Guinea-Bissau, officials say.
The killing of Joao Bernardo Vieira is thought to
been a revenge attack, after the army chief of staff
died in an explosion a few hours earlier.
The army denies there is a coup, and the capital
Bissau is said to be quiet.
Guinea-Bissau is one of the world's poorest states.
It has a history of coups and has become a major
transit route for smuggling cocaine to Europe.
"President Vieira was killed by the army as he tried
to flee his house which was being attacked by a
group of soldiers close to the chief of staff Tagme
Na Waie, early this morning," military spokesman
Zamora Induta told AFP news agency.
He accused Mr Vieira of being responsible for the
death of the army chief of staff, with whom he had
fallen out.
'Avenge'
Braima Camara, a reporter from privately-owned Radio
Pindiquiti in Bissau, told the BBC News website the
president had been killed at his private house, not
far from the presidential palace.
He said military officials had told him the
president was shot dead in retaliation after he
admitted giving the orders for Gen Tagme to be
killed.
The president's house was largely destroyed in the
assault and later looted by soldiers, he said.
He added that the military had taken the president's
wife and family to the UN representative in Bissau.
Chief of staff Gen Tagme died after a blast late on
Sunday that destroyed part of the military
headquarters.
The army then ordered two private radio stations in
the city to cease broadcasting.
Armed forces spokesman Samuel Fernandes told
reporters at one station: "We are going to pursue
the attackers and avenge ourselves".
But in a statement on state radio following Mr
Vieira's death, the military insisted no coup was in
progress. The armed forces statement said the
military would respect the constitutional order - in
which the head of the parliament succeeds the
president in the event of his death.
The president and army chief are said to have been
at odds for months.
Renegade soldiers last November attacked the
presidential palace with automatic weapons in a
failed coup attempt.
The African Union, the European Union and former
colonial ruler Portugal condemned the killing of
69-year-old Mr Vieira - nicknamed "Nino" - as did
Mohamed Ibn Chambas from the regional economic bloc
Ecowas.
"The death of a president, of a chief of staff, is
very grave news," Mr Chambas told AFP.
"It's not only the assassination of a president or a
chief of staff, it's the assassination of
democracy," he said.
The AU is reportedly arranging an emergency meeting
to review the situation.
Plagued by coups
After last November's attack, the president was
subsequently given his own 400-strong militia for
protection.
In January, that militia was accused of trying to
kill the head of the army and was then disbanded.
Guinea-Bissau has been plagued by coups and
political unrest since it gained independence from
Portugal in 1974.
President Vieira, just like the country's previous
leaders, relied on the army to stay in power, and
personal rifts made it a rocky relationship, the
BBC's West Africa correspondent Will Ross says.
Guinea-Bissau - a major transit point for Latin
American cocaine headed for Europe - has also been
destabilised by the effects of drug trafficking.
Some officials in the army are known to have become
involved in the trade, our correspondent says.
|
