WEST REGION NEWS

More held after foiled coup in Guinea-Bissau

BISSAU, December 05 -- Security forces in Guinea-Bissau made further
arrests and carried out searches yesterday, a day after the government
announced that it had foiled a coup against President Kumba Yala, security
sources said.

Several dozen suspects have been rounded up and detained at the Bissalanca
military air base on the outskirts of the capital Bissau, the sources said
in the absence of any official word.

The military guard around the base, which is off limits to civilians, was
reinforced. Those arrested include former deputy army chief of staff LtCol
Almamy Allan Camara and "military and paramilitary" troops whom he had led
in the coup plot, Interior Minister Alamara Nhasse said on Monday.

Military sources said the officers in detention included naval commander
Mohamed Lamine Sanha and Col Joao Monteiro, but no names were given by the
government. Monteiro had been close to former President Joao Bernardo
Vieira, who ruled for almost two decades until he was ousted in 1999 by
former armed forces chief of staff Gen Ansumane Mane.

Sanha had been a member of the junta formed by Mane prior to elections that
brought Yala to power in January last year. Mane launched another coup in
November last year to oust Yala, but was killed by government troops.

Bissau was quiet, with no troop movements on the streets, but the army has
been put on alert and soldiers have been recalled to barracks. The
political opposition has expressed unease about the developments, which
follow measures by Yala against top judges, while the president also
recently lost a parliamentary vote of confidence.

Helder Vaz, leader of the Guinea-Bissau Resistance-Batafa Movement said
that he was "worried about the consequences of this business, which will
again plunge the country into a long period of instability".

But Baz and other political leaders said they considered it premature to
jump to conclusions about the coup allegations, since they had learned of
the news like everyone else, by radio. The announcement that a coup plot
had been foiled on Sunday was first made on radio by the interior
minister. - Sapa-AFP.

©2000 africast.com

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