DAKAR, Nov 23 (AFP) - Unidentified armed groups fought Thursday in
Guinea-Bissau's capital Bissau, where gunfire broke out and residents began
to
flee amid a power struggle between troops and politicians, witnesses said.
   "It seems like armed gangs are chasing each other across town," a
diplomat
speaking to AFP in Dakar said by telephone. "A lot of people have already
fled, there are certainly going to be masses" on the roads leading inland.
   Sporadic gunfire was first heard late on Wednesday night as troops loyal
to
former junta leader General Ansumane Mane held top army officers under house
arrest and reportedly tried to disarm some of President Kumba Yala's
military
guards.
   In the early hours, light automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades
were being used in several parts of the west African city, witnesses said.
Shellfire could also be heard from the direction of the airport, according
to
unconfirmed reports.
   Mane on Monday declared himself army chief-of-staff and "sacked" several
officers appointed by the head of state. On Wednesday, he made a series of
military appointments himself.
   Yala, who took office heading an elected civilian government in February
when Mane's junta stepped down, had been attending a meeting at the offices
of
the United Nations in Bissau in the evening, several sources said.
   According to unconfirmed reports, one of the officers placed under house
arrest on Mane's orders escaped his guards and an exchange of fire followed
in
the night.
   This caused panic and the start of an exodus of civilians from the
tropical
coastal city, which was battered by artillery fire between June 1998 and May
1999 during a showdown between Mane and former president Joao Bernardo
Vieira,
who was ousted by the general.
   Mane, who has defied both the president and a call from the United
Nations
to stay out of politics, said in a statement Wednesday that he had no
intention of "intervening in matters of civilian authority" but was taking
action to "restore serenity in the ranks of the military".
   at-pvr/nb
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