Lansana Babara Camara, a reporter of La Guinée Actuelle, a privately-owned newspaper was on August 24, 2008 violently assaulted by a member of the Autonomous Presidential Security Battalion (BASP), the presidential guard of Guinean President Lansana Conté in Kindia, a suburb of Conakry the capital.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent reported that the attack left the journalist unconscious. He bled profusely and his face was swollen.

The correspondent said a number of personnel of BASP were in the area where Camara and his colleagues had gone to cover an assignment. When, he inquired from one of the officers whether the president was around the area, one guard became furious at the question and attacked him.

The guard took away Camara’s working equipment and fled.

The journalist was treated and discharged at Kindia hospital.

Media Foundation for West Africa  

Lack of funding and a June shift in government mean landmark legislative elections scheduled for November 2008 will be pushed back, Ben Sekou Sylla, president of Guinea’s independent national electoral commission (CENI), told IRIN.

“The change of Prime Minister and of the government could cause delays in the process for the simple reason that the new [ministers] must get up to speed with the issues before taking decisions on elections,” Sylla told IRIN.

The delay has not yet been formally announced, but if the elections are put on hold it will mark the fourth postponement in two years. Originally scheduled for June 2007 they were first delayed to December 2007, then to February 2008 and again to November 2008.

Cheick Fantamady Condé, CENI spokesperson told IRIN, "Even if nothing is yet official we are pessimistic when it comes to [government] compliance with the electoral calendar.”

For many Guineans elections, which the government promised following widespread civilian protests over justice and governance issues in early 2007, are the only ticket to political and economic stability.

The biggest constraint according to Sylla is the lack of funds. The current minister in charge of elections, Sékouba Bangoura, upped the funding requirements from his predecessor’s US$10 million to US$34 million, significantly widening the funding gap. “Financial constraints… could have negative repercussions on the electoral process," Sylla said.

The project manager in charge of revising the electoral rolls, Toure Ibrahima Kalil reiterated the lack of funding is holding back elections.

"The government and our development partners involved in organising the elections are trying to find the resources to bridge the funding gap,” he said, adding “but mobilising this money may take some time,” he told IRIN.

The deadline to revise the electoral rolls and register voters was originally 28 August but has been extended to 26 October.

Several analysts and donors predicted elections would be delayed following the surprise appointment of Prime Minister Soaré in May 2008.

IRIN 

Recent political instability including the early August dissolution of government could delay long-awaited plans to reform Guinea-Bissau’s swollen security sector which could impact the country’s long-term security says the president of the national defence institute Baciro Dja.

Nine police units, the army, air force, navy and judiciary, are to be reformed over the next few years as part of an ambitious government exercise underpinned by the European Union and headed by a Spanish army general, Juan Esteban Verastegui.

"Installing a new government could demotivate the [security sector reform] process. If we say we'll reform and then nothing happens that will be very dangerous,” said Dja.

Unaffordable army

Central to the reform process is modernising and slimming down the country’s oversized army, the country's” Achilles heel” according to Dja, which currently has 4,800 registered members, a significant proportion of them generals who were promoted under former President Kouma Yala's regime. Just six members of the army are under 20 years-old according to a recent Reuters report.

"Guinea-Bissau has more generals than [Africa’s most populous nation] Nigeria," confirmed Shola Omoregie head of the UN peacebuilding office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS).

The hope is to create a smaller, more efficient “modernised” army, reducing the overall tally to 2,500, according to Dja, whose members can live in dignified conditions, be well-trained, and have adequate equipment.

Reform is sorely needed because despite dedicating up to 30 percent of its annual budget to the security sector according to an International Crisis Group estimate, the government cannot afford to support the current structure said an international security expert in Bissau.

"Many members of the military and the police haven't been paid in two months," he told IRIN. "You don't want military officers having to sell coffee in the streets to survive... that's a recipe for disaster."

Challenges

It is also hoped that reforms would limit the alleged involvement of some members of the military in drug trafficking in the country, according to an international drug expert who also asked to remain anonymous.

Shola Omoregie, special representative to the UN Secretary General and head of the UN Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS), added, "Drug trafficking is a big threat here and it will undermine everything we do to build peace here if it is not tackled."

But some fear the early August dissolving of government could delay security sector reforms, further complicating a process that already faces a number of challenges including how to raise the US$180 million required to fund it.

However Colonel Salamao Kiermes at UNOGBIS is confident the reforms will go ahead, citing the fact that efforts have progressed despite the recent government shake-up. He added, “Key people such as the ministers of defence and of justice have not changed… [and] the new government has given assurance that it will not change ongoing plans.”

Meanwhile those backing reforms are not about to let up the pressure. Giuseppina Mazza, resident coordinator of the UN in Bissau stressed, "Security sector reform, alongside good governance and building up the government's administrative capacity is a pre-condition for everything the UN does here.”

IRIN 

Up to 3,160 people have now contracted cholera and 73 people have died across the country and health minister Camilo Simoes Lopes told IRIN the authorities are struggling to win the fight again the epidemic.

The majority of the victims are in the capital, Bissau, which has recorded 2,301 cases. "The situation is bad across the country,” Lopes said, “Only the Bijagos islands have been spared.”

The government and international organisations are focusing their efforts on Bissau though health teams are also travelling to more remote parts of the country to try to contain the disease’s spread.

The government has called on the international community to provide more drugs to treat the disease, according to Lopes. So far the United Nations has leveraged US$600,000 in emergency funds to fight the epidemic.

Agostinho Semedo, the director of the Simao Mendes hospital told IRIN, “We need money and logistical help to fight the disease – we don’t have enough beds or medicines at the moment to do it.”

The hospital is struggling to cope with the number of victims it receives each day. “The situation is beyond our control. People must respect the laws that have been laid down, and the government must do more… to control the situation."

The authorities have prohibited the sale of street food such as doughnuts, some sweets and sachets of water in a bid to stop the disease from spreading further. Semedo has also called on people to stop sacrificing animals at funerals, which he says may be a root cause.

Patients at the hospital have to lie on the ground because there are not enough beds to put them in. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) plans to set up tents to shelter the sick but these have not yet been erected.

Lionardo Domingos Nancassa is one of 23 volunteers helping the government disinfect wells across the capital with chlorine.

According to Lopes others like him need to get more actively involved to prevent the disease from spreading further. "We have found people are not cooperating enough to abide by the hygiene measures imposed by health authorities," he said.

For Nancassa his mission is clear, “We have to come together to contribute to the fight against the epidemic that is wreaking havoc in our capital.”

IRIN 

Kaleb Kolié, Director of  Information of Familia FM, a privately-owned Conakry-based radio  station was on August 13, 2008, attacked by four unknown assailants  allegedly for criticizing the wrongs of  the Guinean society.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that, two of the assailants approached Kolié’s vehicle in the morning of the day of the incident and began hitting his car with stones and iron bars.

Kolié told the correspondent that he sped off to escape further attack from the assailants, who attempted opening the car. Although the reasons for journalist’s attack remain unknown, Kolié believes it might be due to a popular programme he hosts. The programme “Société Débat” provides a platform where for discussing the actions of public and private officials.

Kolié told the correspondent that prior to the attack he had received several death threats on his mobile phone, warning him to discontinue the programme “if (he does not) want to die”.

Media Foundation for West Africa

UNICEF is supporting the Ministry of Health of Guinea Bissau in fighting a cholera epidemic that has quickly spread across the country, and is particularly affecting the capital Bissau and the regions of Quinara, in the south, and Biombo, in the west.
In addition to mobilising US$ 750,000 since the epidemic began in mid-May, UNICEF has assisted with a team of national and international experts specialised in emergency coordination, water and sanitation, social communication, public health and supply.

“The situation is grave and calls for urgent and critical engagement of all parties,” said Silvia Luciani, UNICEF Representative for Guinea Bissau. “We must step up our efforts to ensure that all emergency funds and supplies made available are utilised immediately and effectively to save human lives and put a stop to the epidemic.”
According to data from the Epidemiological Services of the health ministry, as of 14 August 2,018 persons had contracted cholera, of whom 41 have died.

UNICEF’s efforts to combat the deadly disease are part of Guinea Bissau’s national response plan to the cholera epidemic. One of many partners working under the leadership of the Ministry of Health, UNICEF is responsible for supporting the disinfection of Bissau’s water system and traditional wells in the capital and the most affected regions; management of potentially contaminating human waste; distribution of hygiene and sanitation products (soap, bleach, sodium hypochlorite, buckets, etc.); and the production, distribution, and training required to communicate prevention messages to the broader population.

Communication materials are, indeed, a vital tool in combating the disease, and UNICEF has conducted a rapid assessment to  better understand the population’s awareness of cholera and how it is spread. Based on the results of this assessment, UNICEF has supported the production and distribution of messages that emphasize disease prevention and proper hygiene. These messages are being spread with the support of religious and traditional leaders, and UNICEF is appealing to the population of Guinea Bissau to respect the recommendations on hygiene practices necessary to prevent cholera.

In addition to its current response to the epidemic, UNICEF emphasizes the importance of developing a longer term national strategy to prevent this type of crisis from happening again.
UNICEF works in over 150 countries and territories all over the world to help children survival and development. First provider of vaccines to developing countries, UNICEF supports health and nutrition of children, access to potable water and sanitation, quality basic education for boys and girls, and protection of children against violence, all types of exploitation and HIV/AIDS. UNICEF is financed entirely by voluntary contributions of individuals, foundations, enterprises and governments.

About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence.  The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS.  UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

UNICEF 

Bissau-based private radio station Pindjiqidy Radio broadcast early Wednesday a phone call from the head of Guinea Bissau’s navy, Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchute, in which he denied involvement in the 6 August unsuccessful coup attempt against President Joao Bernardo Vieira.

The navy chief denied news reports Guinean officials had arrested him last week, and said he was 50 km from Bissau when the military attempted the coup. Tchute did not reveal his whereabouts.

This early dawn call followed reports in French media on Wednesday that Tchute had escaped police interrogations in Bissau and fled to neighbouring Gambia where officials detained him, according to a Gambian government statement released on 12 August.

Once his whereabouts are confirmed, Sandra Valle, a legal senior advisor with the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), says Guinea Bissau’s Ministry of Justice can issue a warrant for his arrest and request his extradition for further questioning in Bissau.

Valle, previous director of the UNODC office in Bissau, said the Lyons-based international crime fighting organisation Interpol can arrest and hold Tchute for extradition.

Valle said it is important to follow international and national laws in carrying out investigations into the coup attempt.

Guinea Bissau’s government has requested donor assistance for its justice system, which has faced a heavier work load in recent years related to drug cartels cutting through the island.

Drug traffickers, coming mostly from Latin America, but increasingly from other countries, are transporting their drugs through Guinea Bissau’s southern mangroves on hard-to-reach islands, on dusty airstrips throughout the country, and even the national airport, according to UN reports.

Guinean military leaders have denied its armed forces accept bribes to look the other way.

The military holds a prominent role in the archipelago West African state, which has been rocked by multiple coups and coup attempts since winning independence in 1974.

President Vieira came to power the first time in 1980 and was ousted 19 years later, both times through military coups. He was elected to office again three years ago.

IRIN 

Rising food and fuel costs could trigger social conflict in Guinea-Bissau according to the latest report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), published last week.

The warnings come just as Guinea-Bissau has been plunged into a political crisis with President Joao Vieira dissolving parliament and appointing a new prime minister on 5 August. A new government is expected to be formed in a matter of days.

Rising food and fuel prices will hit the urban poor hardest, which could “reignite social tensions”, according to the report.

A Bissau-based agricultural expert confirmed these findings: “Rising food and fuel prices could spark social instability here - they could even start strikes. There is a real risk and the government has to understand that.”

The national workers union has scheduled a protest against the cost of living on 12 August, according to Bissau local Antonio Samy.

Guinea-Bissau has suffered decades of political volatility with numerous uprisings and coups, and a brief civil war, since it attained independence in 1974.

The parliamentary committee of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) is taking seriously the threat rising prices could have on the country’s already tenuous hold on stability and is currently holding emergency talks to discuss solutions.
Food insecurity “chronic”

Rice in Guinea-Bissau now costs US$50 for a 50kg bag, while fuel prices have risen to US$1.43 a litre. “These prices are out of reach for many Bissauns,” said Rui Alfonso Sami, director of rural growth at the Ministry of Agriculture.

Food insecurity is “chronic” in Guinea-Bissau according to Thierry Ange Ella Ondo, a representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and 80 percent of the population currently do not have enough stocks to last them through the lean season.

According to the FAO, farmers produce 62 percent of the people’s rice needs every year, leaving 90,000 metric tonnes to be imported.

Government response

So far the government has been slow to face up to high food prices, according to Sami. “It is the rice importers who had to put pressure on the government to do something about rice prices, because they were shooting up so high that no one would buy their rice.”

Eventually the government removed taxes on imported rice and reduced customs fees on diesel imports, but this represents a “significant” loss in potential revenue, representing 10 percent of tax revenues for the year according to the IMF. The surge in food and fuel prices will also up the budget deficit and increase already high inflation rates, it predicts.

While WFP is finalising a food security assessment across the country, no specific evaluation has been launched to analyse the impact of rising prices on vulnerable households in cities such as Bissau, according to the WFP’s Kalisa.

Sami confirmed this: “We don’t know if people here in Bissau are particularly in need - we have no figures.”

Surveys undertaken in countries around the region have shown that inhabitants in some cities, including Conakry and Ouagadougou, are vulnerable to the current high price crisis because they are heavily reliant on imported food.
No agricultural strategy

There is also, as yet, no national agricultural strategy to tackle high prices though the Ministry of Agriculture is currently developing an emergency plan which it hopes donors such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank will support in the absence of internal funds.

The Ministry of Agriculture receives between just 0.1 and 0.4 percent of the country’s annual budget, according to Sami, leaving little or nothing left over to invest in agricultural growth once salaries have been paid. This leaves the ministry, like so many others in Guinea-Bissau, heavily dependent on external donors and investors. “Every year I propose to the Ministry of Finance to increase the agricultural budget, but in vain,” Sami said.

According to a July report by the International Crisis Group the security sector receives up to 30 percent of the government’s annual finances.

As a result of the lack of an agricultural support system, many farmers in Guinea-Bissau are heavily indebted according to FAO, and there is little indication that the government will extend its support to help alleviate this problem.

Not all bleak

But it is not all bleak. The World Food Programme is still awaiting the results of its rural vulnerability assessment, but Patrice Kalisa, its head of programmes, is confident that “we are in a less dramatic situation in comparison to last year, and at the moment there is no risk of famine in the country.”

The rains have been strong so far in 2008 and the October harvest is expected to be likewise, unlike in 2007 when late rains caused a poor crop.

Furthermore, the price of cashews, which farmers grow for half the year and sell in exchange for imported rice, is 70 US cents per kilogram this year as opposed to 15 US cents last year, significantly improving farmers’ terms of trade.

Aware of the need to diminish the risk of added tensions on top of the current political crisis, international organisations investing in agriculture in Guinea-Bissau say diversification is the order of the day to ease people’s reliance on expensive imports, both for farmers and city-dwellers.

“Farmers have to diversify away from rice,” said according to FAO, “They need to plant manioc, peanuts, potatoes, vegetables - there is a lot of potential here for agriculture, and it has to start at a grassroots level.”

FAO and WFP are encouraging diversification by distributing seeds to villages around the country, and giving families food while they plant their harvest to assist them through the “hungry” season.

In the meantime, to reduce its vulnerability to further price hikes, the IMF is calling on the government to complete its agricultural strategy, and international donors to give timely support to offset the government’s financial losses.

UEMOA is expected to issue its recommendations in a week.

IRIN

President Joao Bernardo Vieira announced he had dissolved parliament on 5 August replacing Prime Minister Martinho Ndafa Cabi of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) with Prime Minister, Carlos Correia.

Correia, an agricultural engineer who was trained in Germany, has already served as prime minister under President Vieira from 1991 to 1994, and again from 1997 to 1998. He will be the country’s 12th prime minister since 1980 - Martinho Ndafa Cabi’s government lasted just 15 months.

A new government will be nominated in the coming days to lead the country up to 16 November legislative elections. Under the presidential decree, only the standing committee of the national assembly will continue to function.

Aims

Vieira said his aim was to bring to an end a political crisis which has struck Guinea-Bissau since 26 July when the PAIGC withdrew from the coalition government following the sacking by Prime Minister Marthinho Ndafa Cabi of four high-ranking officials without first consulting the coalition.

However Joao Seco Mané, leader of the Social-Democratic Party (PSD) said people are “scared” of the possible consequences of the current situation “because they know Guinea-Bissau has gone through many bloody events in its recent history”. For Mané, it is vital that the president’s actions do not favour one political party over another, for this could cause more instability in the future.

Guinea-Bissau has suffered a series of coups and uprisings since it attained independence in 1974.

Malam Sanha, a journalist, agreed. "The situation could get worse at any moment, particularly on the part of the Social Renovation Party (PRS) which has an armed wing and a militia [if they take action]. People are really worried about what might happen next,” he said.

Expectations

Shola Omoregie, head of the UN’s peacebuilding office in Guinea Bissau (UNOGBIS) told IRIN, “We will make it clear what we expect from the new government and leaders of Guinea-Bissau – namely, that stability in the country must be upheld, and that elections be held in November.”

The parliamentary peace council of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) announced in a statement on 5 August it is holding crisis meetings with political actors to try to bring about a resolution to the crisis.

Not everyone is worried however. University student Constantino Batista told IRIN, “I agree with the dissolving of parliament and the fall of Cabi’s government. Cabi’s government has been noted for its incompetence over the past 15 months - with this new government we have a hope that things will improve.”

IRIN

Experts fear parliamentary elections scheduled for November may be destabilised following the withdrawal of the opposition African Party for the Independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) from the national unity government on 25 July.

The PAIGC announced its withdrawal after Prime Minister Marthinho Ndafa Kabi sacked four high-ranking officials, including the directors of customs, taxes, the treasury and the treasurer of public finances, without first informing the PAIGC or other coalition members.

"We are concerned at the instability this [withdrawal] could cause. It is just three months to elections," said Shola Omoregie, Special representative to the UN Secretary General and head of the UN Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS).

The coalition government was formed through a national stability pact which was signed by the country's three leading political parties, the PAIGC, the Party for Social Reform (PRS), and the United Social Democratic Party (PUSD), in March 2007 in a bid to herald a period of stability in the country following several decades of bloody coups and uprisings. See time-line

Members of the international community were encouraged by this pact to engage more directly in building peace and stability in Guinea-Bissau. Other risks to instability include the military's strong hold over politics, the tendency for the individual agendas of the political elite to dictate policy, and the widening net of criminal networks which have turned Guinea-Bissau into a major drug trafficking hub and risk criminalising individuals in government, according to a July 2008 report by the International Crisis Group.

The attorney general Luis Manuel Cabral told the AFP news agency he has received death threats over his investigations into a drugs haul on 12 July, according to a BBC report.

Fears for elections

Elections are scheduled to be held on 16 November 2008 and despite a gap of between US$3-5 million to fund them, according to international donors, the government is "70 percent on its way" to being ready to hold legislative elections, according to experts, with 72 percent of voters already registered.

But Jamel Handem, president of a network of non-governmental organisations in Bissau, worries the PAIGC’s actions, which he sees as a pre-election power-wielding tactic, could destabilise the elections, depending on how the President reacts.

"This action now opens up the path to President Joao Bernardo Vieira to dissolve this government and appoint a new one. Everything depends on the peaceful resolution of this problem. If the authorities fail to find one, the holding of elections will be compromised."

Former Prime Minister and member of the PRS Antonio Artur Sanha, concurred. "If the PAIGC does not reconsider its decision the government of Prime Minister Ndafa Kabi could fall," he said.

International support for reforms

UN Special Representative Omoregie also worries that the events could compromise the work of international actors working to promote stability in the country.

"The formation of government and the dismissal of employees is the [government's] business, but we are concerned that… these developments should not affect international engagement in building peace and stability in the country."

The UN set up a peacebuilding office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS), to report directly to the UN Security Council. Last week Omoregie announced UNOGBIS's plans to support civic education activities in the run-up to the elections, to boost military morale by rehabilitating badly debilitated army barracks, to help build prisons in the country and to set up a youth employment scheme.

A high-level team from the European Council and part of the European Security and Defence Policy is currently working with the government to map out a major security sector reform project to try to reform the military, judiciary and police. Part of this involves a mass demobilisation effort in the military and police.

But such programmes require the buy-in and participation of all parties in the unity government, a member of the ESDP team told IRIN.

The International Monetary Fund, after withdrawing from Guinea-Bissau in 2001, resumed investment activities in January 2008 but this investment is conditional on the government showing a willingness to adopt more transparent decision-making, according to an international diplomat.

Such investment is vital in Guinea-Bissau given that long-term political instability has crippled its institutions and infrastructure, leaving weak governing capacity and in some ministries empty government coffers, which allow little left over for development once salaries are paid. The majority of the country's citizens do not have access to clean water, adequate sanitation facilities, or electricity, and many of the country's roads are near to impassable.

However, despite fears of instability, in a more promising move, on 29 July the IMF released US$2.9 million in post-conflict emergency assistance to promote economic development in the country.

IRIN