Guinea-Bissau soldiers attack capital

[April 13, 2012]  BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) -- An unidentified military commander said Friday that soldiers who attacked the prime minister's home don't want to take power in Guinea-Bissau, claiming they intervened to halt foreign aggression in the tiny coup-prone African nation.

The statement came hours after the state radio station's transmission was cut and explosions were heard throughout the capital. A group representing West African nations has called Thursday's violence in the tiny nation, which is a transshipment point for South American cocaine bound for Europe, "a reprehensible coup attempt."

It came weeks before the presidential runoff election, which Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr. was favored to win. Guinea-Bissau's president died in January of complications from diabetes, leaving an interim leader in charge of the chronically unstable country. The whereabouts of interim President Raimundo Pereira and of Gomes were unknown.

In the communique, the military commander claimed that Gomes was going to allow troops from Angola, another former Portuguese colony in Africa, to attack Guinea-Bissau military forces.

Angola sent about 200 troops to Guinea-Bissau in March 2011 to help reform the country's armed forces as part of a bilateral military agreement, according to Angolan state news agency Angop. Their mission recently ended but the contingent is still in Bissau, Angop said without providing further details.

"The Military Command does not want power but it was forced to act in this way to defend itself from the diplomatic maneuvers of the Guinea-Bissau government, which aims to annihilate the (country's) armed forces using foreign military force," the communique said, according to the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

It claimed it possesses a "secret document" drawn up by the Guinea-Bissau government mandating Angola to attack Guinea-Bissau's military. It was impossible to independently verify the claim.

Angolan Defense Minister Candido Pereira Van-Dunem said Thursday in Luanda that his country would "continue to provide full support" to Guinea-Bissau, with which Angola has "excellent ties," Angop reported. He said a calendar for the return of Angolan troops to Luanda was being negotiated with the Bissau authorities.

Explosions rocked the capital, Bissau, Thursday night, according to a diplomat and witnesses. Shooting started after the state radio station signal inexplicably went dead. A military official, who could not be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said soldiers had encircled Gomes' home and were attacking it with grenades. It was not clear if the premier was at home when the shooting started.

Resident Edmond Ajoye, an employee of a Dutch NGO, said he was around 3 miles (5 kilometers) from his home when the shooting began.

"There was panic. Women were running," he said. "There were rockets being launched, and the soldiers were shooting with guns mounted on their trucks.

"The soldiers took downtown," he continued. "The shooting lasted from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. They then went from embassy to embassy to make sure that the politicians couldn't seek refuge there."

Guinea-Bissau has weathered successive coups, attempted coups and a civil war since winning independence from Portugal in 1974. The country's longtime ruler Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira was assassinated inside his home in 2009.

Guinea-Bissau has been further destabilized by a growing cocaine trade. Traffickers from Latin America use the nation's archipelago of uninhabited islands to land small, twin-engine planes loaded with drugs, which are then parceled out and carried north for sale in Europe.

The traffickers, according to analysts, have bought off key members of the government and the military, creating a narcostate.

The unrest in Guinea-Bissau takes place only three weeks after mutinous soldiers overthrew the democratically elected president of Mali, who was about to retire after an April election. The country's junta leader handed over power to an interim civilian president on Thursday.

[Associated Press; By LASSANA CASSAMA and KRISTA LARSON]

Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Michelle Faul and Rukmini Callimachi in Dakar; and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal contributed to this report.

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