Guinea Bissau Archives - Jean-Jacques Cornish https://jjcornish.com/category/guinea-bissau/ The low down on African affairs Wed, 01 Jan 2020 22:00:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 https://i0.wp.com/jjcornish.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-Fountain_Pen_favicon-812.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Guinea Bissau Archives - Jean-Jacques Cornish https://jjcornish.com/category/guinea-bissau/ 32 32 Guinea Bissau has a new president https://jjcornish.com/2020/01/guinea-bissau-has-a-new-president/ Wed, 01 Jan 2020 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2020/01/guinea-bissau-has-a-new-president/ Guinea Bissau has a new president. Last week’s run off was peaceful and orderly. Will it bring stability to the former Portuguese colony that’s suffered a series of assassinations and  coups. Umaro Cissoko Embalo won the run-off election. His opponent Domingo Simoes Pereira will contest the result. Both are former Prime Ministers. Guinea Bissau is […]

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Guinea Bissau has a new president.

Last week’s run off was peaceful and orderly.

Will it bring stability to the former Portuguese colony that’s suffered a series of assassinations and  coups.

Umaro Cissoko Embalo won the run-off election.

His opponent Domingo Simoes Pereira will contest the result.

Both are former Prime Ministers.

Guinea Bissau is trying to cast aside its reputation as a coup-prone narco state, used as transit point for South American cocaine headed for Europe.

Outgoing President Jose Mario Vaz made tearful appeal for stability.

He congratulated the military for staying out of the election and called for a new page to be written on the country’s democratic history

He came to power in 2014, two years after a coup. The electorate punished him for his administration characterized by frequent sacking.

 

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Vote counting after Guinea Bissau’s run-off Presidential election https://jjcornish.com/2019/12/vote-counting-after-guinea-bissaus-run-off-presidential-election/ Sun, 29 Dec 2019 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2019/12/vote-counting-after-guinea-bissaus-run-off-presidential-election/ Votes are being counted in Guinea Bissau after yesterday’s run-off Presidential Election that capped a turbulent year for the former Portuguese colony.  Final results are expected Wednesday. The run-off will determine the successor to President Jose Mario Vaz who was eliminated in the first round after series of high level sackings and a barely functioning […]

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Votes are being counted in Guinea Bissau after yesterday’s run-off Presidential Election that capped a turbulent year for the former Portuguese colony. 

Final results are expected Wednesday.

The run-off will determine the successor to President Jose Mario Vaz who was eliminated in the first round after series of high level sackings and a barely functioning parliament.

Frontrunner is Domingos Simoes Pereira who won 40% of the first round votes.

He has been endorsed by the major contenders who fell out in the tumultuous contest on November 24.

Both he and the other run-off contestant, Umaro Cissoko Embalo, are former prime ministers. 

Their campaigns promised stability in the country of 1,6 million that has endured nine attempted coups since independence in 1974.

 

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New hope for Guinea Bissau after peaceful elections https://jjcornish.com/2019/03/new-hope-for-guinea-bissau-after-peaceful-elections/ Mon, 11 Mar 2019 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2019/03/new-hope-for-guinea-bissau-after-peaceful-elections/ Peaceful elections in Guinea Bissau last weekend have given rise to hopes that the former Portuguese colony will finally end the political instability that turned it into Africa’s first narco state and a funding source regional jihadis. For this to happen though, President José Mário Vaz much break the deadlock between government, parliament and the […]

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Peaceful elections in Guinea Bissau last weekend have given rise to hopes that the former Portuguese colony will finally end the political instability that turned it into Africa’s first narco state and a funding source regional jihadis.

For this to happen though, President José Mário Vaz much break the deadlock between government, parliament and the executive.

Not a single head of state has managed to see out a full term since the country became independent of Portugal in1974.

Guinea Bissau has seen three coups, a civil war and the assassination of a president and army chief.

South America drug cartels took advantage of the instability to use the country as a transit point for smuggling cocaine into Europe.

Islamist militants in the region tapped into the drug money to finance their operations.

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