African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde
Encyclopedia
The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde or PAIGC is a political party
that governed Guinea-Bissau
from the independence of the then Portuguese Guinea
in 1974, until the late 1990s, and from 2004 to 2005. Currently it is the party with the largest number of seats in the National People's Assembly
. It became part of a governing coalition in 2007, with PAIGC member Martinho Ndafa Kabi
serving as Prime Minister, until withdrawing in 2008.
Amílcar Cabral
founded the party with his brother Luís
in then-Portuguese Guinea
in 1956, advocating the independence of Cape Verde
and Portuguese Guinea
from Portugal
.
In the 1950s Portuguese Guinea was the poorest and least developed Portuguese colony in Africa
, though it was prized for its strategic position, as it acted as a stepping stone from Portugal to her colonies of Portuguese Mozambique and Portuguese Angola.
In 1959 the Pijiguiti Massacre
took place, when Portuguese
soldiers opened fire on protesting dockworkers, killing 50. This massacre caused a large segment of the population to swing towards the PAIGC's push for independence. Portugal, however, still considered the PAIGC to be irrelevant, and took no serious action in trying to suppress it.
In 1961 the FRELIMO in Mozambique
, the MPLA of Angola
and the PAIGC formed the Conferência das Organizações Nacionalistas das Colónias Portuguesas (Portuguese: Conference of Nationalist Organisations of the Portuguese Colonies
), a common party to coordinate the struggles for independence of Portuguese colonies across Africa. The three groups were often represented at international events by the CONCP.
The PAIGC was originally a peaceful movement, their first strategy being requests for the Portuguese to peacefully withdraw from their Guinea colony. As this failed, however, the PAIGC turned to more violent measures to achieve independence.
Armed struggle against the Portuguese began in March 1962 with an abortive attack by PAIGC guerrillas on Praia
. Guerrilla warfare
was largely concentrated to the mainland Guinea, however, as logistical
reasons prevented an armed struggle on the Cape Verde islands. On the Cape Verde islands PAIGC worked in a clandestine manner. After being nearly crippled militarily, Amílcar Cabral ordered that sabotage
be the PAIGC's main weapon until military
strength could be regained.
In January 1963 Cabral declared full scale war against the Portuguese, and on January 23, the Portuguese fortress at Tite
came under heavy gunfire from PAIGC guerrillas. Frequent attacks in the north also took place. In that same month, attacks on police
stations in Fulacunda and Buba were carried out not only by the PAIGC but also by the FLING
.
In the context of the ongoing Cold War
, PAIGC guerrillas received Kalashnikov
s from the USSR
, bazooka
s from Cuba
and recoil
less rifles from the People's Republic of China
. Guerrillas were also trained in these countries.
The first party congress took place at liberated Cassaca in February 1964, in which both the political and military arms of the PAIGC were assessed and reorganized, with a regular army (Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People
, FARP) to supplement the guerrilla forces (The People's Guerrillas).
Como Island was the site of a major battle
between PAIGC and Portuguese forces, in which the PAIGC took control of the island and resisted fierce counterattacks by the Portuguese, including airstrikes by FAP (Portuguese: Força Aérea Portuguesa; Portuguese Air Force) F-86 Sabre
s.
Throughout the war the Portuguese handled themselves poorly. It took them a long time to finally take the PAIGC seriously, diverting aircraft and troops based in Guinea to the conflicts in Mozambique and Angola, and by the time that the Portuguese government began to realise that the PAIGC was a significant threat to their continued rule over Guinea, it was too late. Very little was done to curtail the guerrilla operations; the Portuguese didn't try to sever the link between the populace and the PAIGC until very late in the war, and as a result, it became very dangerous for Portuguese troops to operate far from their fortresses.
Following the loss of Como Island, the Portuguese army
, navy
and the air force
(FAP) began the Operation Tridente, a combined arms
operation to retake the island
. The PAIGC fought fiercely, and the Portuguese took heavy casualties and gained ground slowly.
Finally, after 71 days of fighting and 851 FAP combat sorties, the island was taken back by the Portuguese. However, less than two months later, the PAIGC would retake the island, as the Portuguese operation to capture it had depleted much of their invasion force, leaving the island vulnerable.
Como Island ceased to be of strategic importance to Portugal following establishment of new PAIGC positions in the south, especially on the Cantanhez and Quitafine Peninsulas. Large numbers of Portuguese troops on these peninsulas were encircled and besieged by guerrillas.
In 1966 Amílcar Cabral
attended the Conferencia Tricontinental Enero in Havana
and made a great impression on Fidel Castro
. As a result of this, Cuba
agreed to supply artillery experts, doctors and technicians to assist in the independence struggle. The head of the Cuban Military Mission was Victor Dreke
.
By 1967 the PAIGC had carried out 147 attacks on Portuguese barracks and army encampments, and effectively controlled 2/3 of Portuguese Guinea
. The following year, Portugal began a new campaign against the guerrillas with the arrival of the new governor of the colony, António de Spínola
. Spínola began a massive construction campaign, building school
s, hospital
s, new housing and improving telecommunications and the road
system, in an attempt to gain public favour in Guinea. PAIGC was the first African party to establish a comprehensive cooperative program with Sweden
.
However, in 1970 the FAP began to use similar weapons to those the US
was using in the Vietnam War
: napalm
and defoliant
s, the former to destroy guerrillas when they could find them, the latter to decrease the number of ambushes that occurred when they could not.
Spínola's tenure as governor marked a turning point in the war: Portugal began to win battles, and in a daring raid
on Conakry
, in the neighbouring Republic of Guinea, 400 amphibious troops attacked the city and freed 26 Portuguese prisoners of war kept there by the PAIGC.
The USSR and Cuba began to send more weapons to Portuguese Guinea via Nigeria
, notably several Ilyushin Il-14
aircraft to use as bombers.
Though the Portuguese army in the Guinea colony began to start winning battles more frequently, the government in Lisbon
was on the verge of bankruptcy
, and in 1974, following a military coup d'état
, the Portuguese government began to negotiate with the PAIGC, and on September 10, independence was granted. Luís Cabral
, brother of Amílcar, became the country's first president.
In January 1973, a crushing blow was dealt to the PAIGC: its leader, Amílcar Cabral, was assassinated
, not by the Portuguese, but rather by a disgruntled former associate. Independence was unilaterally declared on September 24, 1973 and was recognized by a 93–7 UN General Assembly vote in November, unprecedented as it denounced illegal Portuguese aggression and occupation and was prior to Portuguese recognition.
1,875 Portuguese soldiers (out of 35,000 stationed in Portuguese Guinea) and some 6,000 (out of 10,000) PAIGC troops were killed by the end of the 11 year war.
and Cape Verde. Luís Cabral
became the president of Guinea-Bissau. PAIGC strove for a union between Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, but in 1980 the union finally broke down, following the military take-over by João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira
against Cabral, who was of Capeverdean origin. The Cape Verdean branch of PAIGC was converted into a separate party, the African Independence Party of Cape Verde (PAICV).
The youth wing of PAIGC is called African Youth Amilcar Cabral
(Juventude Africana Amilcar Cabral) and the women's wing is called Democratic Union of the Women of Guinea (União Democrática das Mulheres da Guiné).
Under Vieira, the party continued to govern the country in the 1980s and 1990s. Vieira was re-elected as PAIGC Secretary-General at the party's fourth congress in November 1986. Following the introduction of multiparty politics in 1991, the first multiparty elections were held in 1994. Vieira won the 1994 presidential election against opposition candidate Kumba Yala of the Party for Social Renewal
(PRS), while the PAIGC won 62 out of 100 parliamentary seats, with 46% of the vote.
Vieira was re-elected for another four-year term as President of PAIGC in mid-May 1998 at PAIGC's sixth congress, with 438 votes in favor, eight opposed, and four abstaining; the post of Secretary-General was abolished at this congress. An outbreak of civil war
in June 1998 eventually led to the ouster of Vieira in May 1999. A few days afterward, former Prime Minister Manuel Saturnino da Costa
was named acting President of PAIGC on May 12, 1999, replacing Vieira. Vieira was expelled from PAIGC at a party congress in September 1999 for "treasonable offences, support and incitement to warfare, and practices incompatible with the statutes of the party". Francisco Benante
, the leader of reformists within the party and the only civilian in the transitional military junta, was elected as the President of PAIGC at the end of this congress, on September 9, 1999. Benante's candidacy was supported by the junta, and he received 174 votes against 133 votes for the only opposing candidate. The PAIGC won the third highest number of seats in the November 1999 parliamentary election, and its presidential candidate, Malam Bacai Sanhá
, was defeated by Yala.
In the 2004 legislative elections
, held on 28 and 30 March 2004, the PAIGC was the largest single political party, winning 31.45 % of the popular vote and 45 out of 100 seats. It formed a government in May 2004, with the party's leader, Carlos Gomes Júnior
, becoming Prime Minister. In the 2005 presidential election
, PAIGC candidate Malam Bacai Sanhá won 35.45 % in the first round. He was defeated in the second round by João Bernardo Vieira, who had returned from exile and ran as an independent. Sanhá won 46.65 % of the vote, while Vieira won 52.35 %. A few weeks after taking office, Vieira dismissed Carlos Gomes Júnior as Prime Minister on 28 October 2005, and on 2 November he appointed Aristides Gomes
, who had formerly been a high ranking member of PAIGC but split with the party to support Vieira, in his place.
In March 2007, the PAIGC formed a three-party alliance with the PRS and the United Social Democratic Party
, and the three parties sought to form a new government. This led to a successful no-confidence vote against Aristides Gomes and his resignation late in the month; on 9 April, the choice of the three parties for the position of prime minister, Martinho Ndafa Kabi
, was appointed as prime minister by Vieira, and on 17 April a new government was named, composed of ministers from the three parties. Kabi is a leading member of PAIGC; he was elected as the party's Third Vice-President in 2002.
PAIGC withdrew its backing for Kabi on February 29, 2008, saying that this was done "to avoid acts of indiscipline threatening cohesion and unity in the party".
PAIGC's Seventh Ordinary Congress, held in Gabu
, began on June 26, 2008; 1,050 delegates participated. Malam Bacai Sanhá, the party's presidential candidate in 2000 and 2005, challenged Gomes for the party leadership, but Gomes was re-elected for a five-year term as President of PAIGC on July 1–July 2, receiving 578 votes against 355 for Sanhá. Kabi, Cipriano Cassama
(considered a dissident within the party and associated with Aristides Gomes), and Baciro Dia also contested the leadership election, but attracted comparatively little support.
After Kabi dismissed the directors of customs, taxes and the treasury on July 25, 2008 without notifying the party, PAIGC decided to withdraw from the three-party stability pact that was signed in March 2007. Vieira then dismissed Kabi and appointed Carlos Correia
as Prime Minister on August 5.
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
that governed Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
from the independence of the then Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.-History:...
in 1974, until the late 1990s, and from 2004 to 2005. Currently it is the party with the largest number of seats in the National People's Assembly
National People's Assembly of Guinea-Bissau
The unicameral National People's Assembly of Guinea-Bissau is the country's legislative body.The current National People's Assembly, formed following elections held on 28 March 2004, has a total of 102 seats. 100 members are elected through a system of party-list proportional representation...
. It became part of a governing coalition in 2007, with PAIGC member Martinho Ndafa Kabi
Martinho Ndafa Kabi
Martinho Ndafa Kabi was the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 13 April 2007 to 5 August 2008. He is a leading member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde ....
serving as Prime Minister, until withdrawing in 2008.
National revolutionary struggle
Amílcar Cabral
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was a Guinea-Bissauan and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, writer, and a nationalist thinker and politician. Also known by his nom de guerre Abel Djassi, Cabral led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence...
founded the party with his brother Luís
Luís Cabral
Luís Severino de Almeida Cabral was the first President of Guinea-Bissau. He served from 1974 to 1980, when a military coup d'état led by João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira deposed him...
in then-Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.-History:...
in 1956, advocating the independence of Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
and Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.-History:...
from Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
.
In the 1950s Portuguese Guinea was the poorest and least developed Portuguese colony in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, though it was prized for its strategic position, as it acted as a stepping stone from Portugal to her colonies of Portuguese Mozambique and Portuguese Angola.
In 1959 the Pijiguiti Massacre
Pijiguiti Massacre
The nationalist movement in Cape Verde appeared less fervent than in Portugal's other African holdings. Therefore, when the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde was founded in 1956 by Amílcar Cabral and other pan-africanists, it would remain quiet for 3 years, organizing and...
took place, when Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
soldiers opened fire on protesting dockworkers, killing 50. This massacre caused a large segment of the population to swing towards the PAIGC's push for independence. Portugal, however, still considered the PAIGC to be irrelevant, and took no serious action in trying to suppress it.
In 1961 the FRELIMO in Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, the MPLA of Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and the PAIGC formed the Conferência das Organizações Nacionalistas das Colónias Portuguesas (Portuguese: Conference of Nationalist Organisations of the Portuguese Colonies
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
), a common party to coordinate the struggles for independence of Portuguese colonies across Africa. The three groups were often represented at international events by the CONCP.
The PAIGC was originally a peaceful movement, their first strategy being requests for the Portuguese to peacefully withdraw from their Guinea colony. As this failed, however, the PAIGC turned to more violent measures to achieve independence.
Armed struggle against the Portuguese began in March 1962 with an abortive attack by PAIGC guerrillas on Praia
Praia
Praia , is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde, an island nation in the Atlantic Ocean west of Senegal. It lies on the southern coast of Santiago island in the Sotavento Islands group. It is the island's ferry port and is home to one of the nation’s four international airports...
. Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
was largely concentrated to the mainland Guinea, however, as logistical
Logistics
Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
reasons prevented an armed struggle on the Cape Verde islands. On the Cape Verde islands PAIGC worked in a clandestine manner. After being nearly crippled militarily, Amílcar Cabral ordered that sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
be the PAIGC's main weapon until military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
strength could be regained.
In January 1963 Cabral declared full scale war against the Portuguese, and on January 23, the Portuguese fortress at Tite
Tite
Tite may refer to:People:*Tite Curet Alonso , Puerto Rican composer of salsa songs*Tite Kubo , Japanese manga artist*Tite Margwelaschwili, Georgian philosopher and writer...
came under heavy gunfire from PAIGC guerrillas. Frequent attacks in the north also took place. In that same month, attacks on police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
stations in Fulacunda and Buba were carried out not only by the PAIGC but also by the FLING
FLING
Fling may refer to:* Fling - a brief casual relationship* Fling - a chocolate bar made by Mars, Incorporated* Fling - a 2008 John Stewart Muller film* FLING, the Struggle Front for the National Independence of Guinea...
.
In the context of the ongoing Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, PAIGC guerrillas received Kalashnikov
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
s from the USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, bazooka
Bazooka
Bazooka is the common name for a man-portable recoilless rocket antitank weapon, widely fielded by the U.S. Army. Also referred to as the "Stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was amongst the first-generation of rocket propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat...
s from Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and recoil
Recoil
Recoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
less rifles from the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. Guerrillas were also trained in these countries.
The first party congress took place at liberated Cassaca in February 1964, in which both the political and military arms of the PAIGC were assessed and reorganized, with a regular army (Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People
Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People
Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People , the armed wing of PAIGC during the struggle against Portuguese colonial rule in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. FARP was launched after the first party congress of PAIGC....
, FARP) to supplement the guerrilla forces (The People's Guerrillas).
Como Island was the site of a major battle
Battle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
between PAIGC and Portuguese forces, in which the PAIGC took control of the island and resisted fierce counterattacks by the Portuguese, including airstrikes by FAP (Portuguese: Força Aérea Portuguesa; Portuguese Air Force) F-86 Sabre
F-86 Sabre
The North American F-86 Sabre was a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as America's first swept wing fighter which could counter the similarly-winged Soviet MiG-15 in high speed dogfights over the skies of the Korean War...
s.
Throughout the war the Portuguese handled themselves poorly. It took them a long time to finally take the PAIGC seriously, diverting aircraft and troops based in Guinea to the conflicts in Mozambique and Angola, and by the time that the Portuguese government began to realise that the PAIGC was a significant threat to their continued rule over Guinea, it was too late. Very little was done to curtail the guerrilla operations; the Portuguese didn't try to sever the link between the populace and the PAIGC until very late in the war, and as a result, it became very dangerous for Portuguese troops to operate far from their fortresses.
Following the loss of Como Island, the Portuguese army
Portuguese Army
The Portuguese Army is the ground branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in co-operation with other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the defence of Portugal...
, navy
Portuguese Navy
The Portuguese Navy is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the military defence of Portugal....
and the air force
Portuguese Air Force
The Portuguese Air Force is the air force of Portugal. Formed on July 1, 1952, with the Aeronáutica Militar and Aviação Naval united in a single independent Air Force, it is one of the three branches of the Portuguese Armed Forces and its origins dates back to 1912, when the military aviation...
(FAP) began the Operation Tridente, a combined arms
Combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different branches of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects...
operation to retake the island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
. The PAIGC fought fiercely, and the Portuguese took heavy casualties and gained ground slowly.
Finally, after 71 days of fighting and 851 FAP combat sorties, the island was taken back by the Portuguese. However, less than two months later, the PAIGC would retake the island, as the Portuguese operation to capture it had depleted much of their invasion force, leaving the island vulnerable.
Como Island ceased to be of strategic importance to Portugal following establishment of new PAIGC positions in the south, especially on the Cantanhez and Quitafine Peninsulas. Large numbers of Portuguese troops on these peninsulas were encircled and besieged by guerrillas.
In 1966 Amílcar Cabral
Amílcar Cabral
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was a Guinea-Bissauan and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, writer, and a nationalist thinker and politician. Also known by his nom de guerre Abel Djassi, Cabral led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence...
attended the Conferencia Tricontinental Enero in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
and made a great impression on Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
. As a result of this, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
agreed to supply artillery experts, doctors and technicians to assist in the independence struggle. The head of the Cuban Military Mission was Victor Dreke
Víctor Dreke
Víctor Emilio Dreke Cruz is a Cuban Communist Party leader of notable African descent, and a former commander in the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces....
.
By 1967 the PAIGC had carried out 147 attacks on Portuguese barracks and army encampments, and effectively controlled 2/3 of Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.-History:...
. The following year, Portugal began a new campaign against the guerrillas with the arrival of the new governor of the colony, António de Spínola
António de Spínola
António Sebastião Ribeiro de Spínola , GCTE, ComA was a Portuguese soldier, conservative politician and author, who was important in the transition to democracy following the Portuguese Carnation...
. Spínola began a massive construction campaign, building school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s, hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s, new housing and improving telecommunications and the road
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
system, in an attempt to gain public favour in Guinea. PAIGC was the first African party to establish a comprehensive cooperative program with Sweden
Guinea-Bissau–Sweden relations
Guinea-Bissau–Sweden relations is the bilateral foreign relations between the two countries Guinea-Bissau and Sweden. The ambassador of Sweden to Senegal is accredited to Guinea-Bissau. Sweden has an honourary consulate in Bissau...
.
However, in 1970 the FAP began to use similar weapons to those the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was using in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
: napalm
Napalm
Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...
and defoliant
Agent Orange
Agent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth...
s, the former to destroy guerrillas when they could find them, the latter to decrease the number of ambushes that occurred when they could not.
Spínola's tenure as governor marked a turning point in the war: Portugal began to win battles, and in a daring raid
Portuguese invasion of Guinea, 1970
The Operation Green Sea was an amphibious attack on Conakry, the capital of Guinea, by between 350 and 420 Portuguese soldiers and Portuguese-led Guinean fighters in November 1970...
on Conakry
Conakry
Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...
, in the neighbouring Republic of Guinea, 400 amphibious troops attacked the city and freed 26 Portuguese prisoners of war kept there by the PAIGC.
The USSR and Cuba began to send more weapons to Portuguese Guinea via Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, notably several Ilyushin Il-14
Ilyushin Il-14
The Ilyushin Il-14 was a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950, and entered service in 1954. Il-14 was also manufactured in East Germany by VVB Flugzeugbau, in Czechoslovakia as the Avia 14, and in China under the Chinese...
aircraft to use as bombers.
Though the Portuguese army in the Guinea colony began to start winning battles more frequently, the government in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
was on the verge of bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
, and in 1974, following a military coup d'état
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
, the Portuguese government began to negotiate with the PAIGC, and on September 10, independence was granted. Luís Cabral
Luís Cabral
Luís Severino de Almeida Cabral was the first President of Guinea-Bissau. He served from 1974 to 1980, when a military coup d'état led by João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira deposed him...
, brother of Amílcar, became the country's first president.
In January 1973, a crushing blow was dealt to the PAIGC: its leader, Amílcar Cabral, was assassinated
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
, not by the Portuguese, but rather by a disgruntled former associate. Independence was unilaterally declared on September 24, 1973 and was recognized by a 93–7 UN General Assembly vote in November, unprecedented as it denounced illegal Portuguese aggression and occupation and was prior to Portuguese recognition.
1,875 Portuguese soldiers (out of 35,000 stationed in Portuguese Guinea) and some 6,000 (out of 10,000) PAIGC troops were killed by the end of the 11 year war.
Post-independence history
After achieving independence, PAIGC was instituted as the sole legal political party of Guinea-BissauGuinea-Bissau
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
and Cape Verde. Luís Cabral
Luís Cabral
Luís Severino de Almeida Cabral was the first President of Guinea-Bissau. He served from 1974 to 1980, when a military coup d'état led by João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira deposed him...
became the president of Guinea-Bissau. PAIGC strove for a union between Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, but in 1980 the union finally broke down, following the military take-over by João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira
João Bernardo Vieira
João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira was the President of Guinea-Bissau from 1980 to 1999 and again from 2005 to 2009. After seizing power in 1980, Vieira ruled for 19 years, and he won a multiparty presidential election in 1994. He was ousted at the end of the 1998–1999 civil war and went into exile...
against Cabral, who was of Capeverdean origin. The Cape Verdean branch of PAIGC was converted into a separate party, the African Independence Party of Cape Verde (PAICV).
The youth wing of PAIGC is called African Youth Amilcar Cabral
African Youth Amílcar Cabral
African Youth Amílcar Cabral is the youth wing of PAIGC in Guinea-Bissau. JAAC was founded on September 12, 1974 in Boé....
(Juventude Africana Amilcar Cabral) and the women's wing is called Democratic Union of the Women of Guinea (União Democrática das Mulheres da Guiné).
Under Vieira, the party continued to govern the country in the 1980s and 1990s. Vieira was re-elected as PAIGC Secretary-General at the party's fourth congress in November 1986. Following the introduction of multiparty politics in 1991, the first multiparty elections were held in 1994. Vieira won the 1994 presidential election against opposition candidate Kumba Yala of the Party for Social Renewal
Party for Social Renewal
The Party for Social Renewal is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. It is one of the country's leading parties and is currently the main opposition party....
(PRS), while the PAIGC won 62 out of 100 parliamentary seats, with 46% of the vote.
Vieira was re-elected for another four-year term as President of PAIGC in mid-May 1998 at PAIGC's sixth congress, with 438 votes in favor, eight opposed, and four abstaining; the post of Secretary-General was abolished at this congress. An outbreak of civil war
Guinea-Bissau Civil War
The Guinea-Bissau Civil War was triggered by an attempted coup d'état against the government of President João Bernardo Vieira led by Brigadier-General Ansumane Mané in June 1998...
in June 1998 eventually led to the ouster of Vieira in May 1999. A few days afterward, former Prime Minister Manuel Saturnino da Costa
Manuel Saturnino da Costa
Manuel Saturnino da Costa is a Guinea-Bissau politician who served as Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 26 October 1994 to 6 June 1997....
was named acting President of PAIGC on May 12, 1999, replacing Vieira. Vieira was expelled from PAIGC at a party congress in September 1999 for "treasonable offences, support and incitement to warfare, and practices incompatible with the statutes of the party". Francisco Benante
Francisco Benante
Francisco Benante is a politician in Guinea-Bissau and a member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde . He was President of PAIGC from 1999 to 2002 and President of the National People's Assembly of Guinea-Bissau from 2004 to 2008.Benante is a lawyer by profession...
, the leader of reformists within the party and the only civilian in the transitional military junta, was elected as the President of PAIGC at the end of this congress, on September 9, 1999. Benante's candidacy was supported by the junta, and he received 174 votes against 133 votes for the only opposing candidate. The PAIGC won the third highest number of seats in the November 1999 parliamentary election, and its presidential candidate, Malam Bacai Sanhá
Malam Bacai Sanhá
Malam Bacai Sanhá is a Guinea-Bissau politician who has been President of Guinea-Bissau since 8 September 2009. A member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde , Sanhá was President of the National People's Assembly from 1994 to 1999 and then served as acting President...
, was defeated by Yala.
In the 2004 legislative elections
Guinea-Bissau legislative election, 2004
A legislative election was held in Guinea-Bissau on March 28, 2004. The election had been repeatedly postponed due to political and financial chaos in the country, and due to the coup d'état which overthrew President Kumba Ialá in September 2003....
, held on 28 and 30 March 2004, the PAIGC was the largest single political party, winning 31.45 % of the popular vote and 45 out of 100 seats. It formed a government in May 2004, with the party's leader, Carlos Gomes Júnior
Carlos Gomes Júnior
Carlos Domingos Gomes Júnior is the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau. He was previously Prime Minister from 10 May 2004 to 2 November 2005, and he was again appointed to that post on 25 December 2008...
, becoming Prime Minister. In the 2005 presidential election
Guinea-Bissau presidential election, 2005
Guinea-Bissau held a presidential election on 19 June 2005, and a second round run-off vote was held on 24 July. The election marked the end of a transition to democratic rule after the previously elected government was overthrown in a September 2003 military coup led by General Veríssimo Correia...
, PAIGC candidate Malam Bacai Sanhá won 35.45 % in the first round. He was defeated in the second round by João Bernardo Vieira, who had returned from exile and ran as an independent. Sanhá won 46.65 % of the vote, while Vieira won 52.35 %. A few weeks after taking office, Vieira dismissed Carlos Gomes Júnior as Prime Minister on 28 October 2005, and on 2 November he appointed Aristides Gomes
Aristides Gomes
Aristides Gomes is the President of the Republican Party of Independence for Development in Guinea-Bissau. He was the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 2 November 2005 until 13 April 2007....
, who had formerly been a high ranking member of PAIGC but split with the party to support Vieira, in his place.
In March 2007, the PAIGC formed a three-party alliance with the PRS and the United Social Democratic Party
United Social Democratic Party
The United Social Democratic Party is a centre-left social democratic political party in Guinea-Bissau.Former Prime Minister Francisco Fadul was elected as the President of the PUSD on 18 December 2002 at a party convention in Bissau....
, and the three parties sought to form a new government. This led to a successful no-confidence vote against Aristides Gomes and his resignation late in the month; on 9 April, the choice of the three parties for the position of prime minister, Martinho Ndafa Kabi
Martinho Ndafa Kabi
Martinho Ndafa Kabi was the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 13 April 2007 to 5 August 2008. He is a leading member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde ....
, was appointed as prime minister by Vieira, and on 17 April a new government was named, composed of ministers from the three parties. Kabi is a leading member of PAIGC; he was elected as the party's Third Vice-President in 2002.
PAIGC withdrew its backing for Kabi on February 29, 2008, saying that this was done "to avoid acts of indiscipline threatening cohesion and unity in the party".
PAIGC's Seventh Ordinary Congress, held in Gabu
Gabu
Gabu may refer to:* Gabú, a city in Guinea-Bissau* Gat Andrés Bonifacio University, a university in the Philippines...
, began on June 26, 2008; 1,050 delegates participated. Malam Bacai Sanhá, the party's presidential candidate in 2000 and 2005, challenged Gomes for the party leadership, but Gomes was re-elected for a five-year term as President of PAIGC on July 1–July 2, receiving 578 votes against 355 for Sanhá. Kabi, Cipriano Cassama
Cipriano Cassamá
Cipriano Cassamá is a politician in Guinea-Bissau and a member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde . He was Minister of the Interior from August 2008 to January 2009....
(considered a dissident within the party and associated with Aristides Gomes), and Baciro Dia also contested the leadership election, but attracted comparatively little support.
After Kabi dismissed the directors of customs, taxes and the treasury on July 25, 2008 without notifying the party, PAIGC decided to withdraw from the three-party stability pact that was signed in March 2007. Vieira then dismissed Kabi and appointed Carlos Correia
Carlos Correia
Carlos Correia is a Guinea-Bissau politician. He was Prime Minister from 27 December 1991 to 26 October 1994, from 6 June 1997 to 3 December 1998, and from 5 August 2008 to 25 December 2008....
as Prime Minister on August 5.