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Emergency summit in Guinea-Bissau | Emergency summit in Guinea-Bissau |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Regional leaders are visiting the West African state of Guinea-Bissau in an effort to defuse the crisis following the assassination of the president. | Regional leaders are visiting the West African state of Guinea-Bissau in an effort to defuse the crisis following the assassination of the president. |
Soldiers killed Joao Bernardo Vieira on Monday in an apparent tit-for-tat attack after army chief-of-staff Gen Tagme Na Waie was blown up. | |
West African regional group Ecowas is due to hold an emergency summit about the crisis in the capital, Bissau. | West African regional group Ecowas is due to hold an emergency summit about the crisis in the capital, Bissau. |
The city reportedly remains calm in the aftermath of the double assassination. | The city reportedly remains calm in the aftermath of the double assassination. |
Deserted streets | |
The British consul in Bissau, Jan van Maanen, told the BBC's Network Africa programme the capital was deserted. | |
"There's no traffic, there's nobody on the street at all actually," he said. "There's no military on the streets, there's no check-points." | |
Guinea-Bissau - a major transit point for Latin American cocaine headed for Europe - has been plagued by coups and political unrest since independence from Portugal in 1974. | |
Gen Tagme Na Waie and the president were bitter enemies | Gen Tagme Na Waie and the president were bitter enemies |
The African Union's Peace and Security Council met on Tuesday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to discuss their response to the crisis. | |
According to the AU's statutes, member states should be suspended in the event of an unconstitutional power-change, as were Mauritania and Guinea after coups last year. | |
Ecowas Chairman Mohamed Ibn Chambas told the BBC five West African foreign ministers were joining him in Guinea-Bissau and they would seek to ensure the army does not seize power. | |
'Step backwards' | |
He said: "We see these two [deaths] as certainly a step backwards, and we will remain resolved in the region and ensure that constitutional rule in Guinea-Bissau is respected." | |
The European Union and former colonial ruler Portugal have also called for the rule of law to be respected. | |
The army has denied it is launching a coup and promised to honour the constitution. | |
Under the charter, the speaker of parliament, Raimundo Pereira, has now taken office and must arrange elections within 60 days. | |
JOAO BERNARDO VIEIRA 1939: BornElectrician by tradeKey figure in struggle against Portuguese colonial rule1980: Came to power in coup, as head of armed forces1994: Won country's first multi-party elections1999: Overthrown after sacking army chief2005: Returned from exile to win presidential election Obituary: President VieiraHaunted by history of crisis | |
The cabinet has announced seven days of national mourning for both leaders and launched a judicial inquiry into the deaths. | |
Braima Camara, a reporter from privately-owned Radio Pindiquiti in Bissau, told the BBC that Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade had sent a plane to pick up Mr Vieira's wife and children and take them to Dakar. | |
Mr Vieira, nicknamed "Nino", was killed at his private house close to the presidential palace in Bissau early on Monday. | |
Hours earlier a bomb had killed the army chief at his headquarters. The device was reportedly hidden underneath the staircase leading to Gen Waie's office. | |
It was the second attack on President Vieira in recent months. In November, his residence was attacked by soldiers with automatic weapons. | |
New details have emerged of the enmity between the two men, who had been his political rival for decades. | |
'Island exile' | |
In January, Gen Waie had a narrow escape when unidentified gunmen opened fire on his car. | |
He reportedly suspected the attack had been ordered by Mr Vieira as he had just stepped outside after receiving a call from the presidency asking him to come at once. | |
Gen Waie was reportedly among majority ethnic Balanta officers suspected of plotting a coup and punished in the late 1980s by the president, who came from the minority Papel ethnic group. | |
Mr Vieira exiled the army chief for a number of years to a deserted island off the coast of Guinea-Bissau before he was officially pardoned and allowed to return, Gen Waie's chief-of-staff, Lt Col Bwam Namtcho, told AP news agency. |