João Bernardo Vieira
Encyclopedia
João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira (27 April 1939 – 2 March 2009) 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. He made a political comeback in 2005, winning that year's presidential election
. Vieira was killed by soldiers on 2 March 2009, apparently in retaliation for a bomb blast that killed Guinea-Bissau's military chief General Batista Tagme Na Waie
. The military officially denied these allegations after Army officials claimed responsibility for Vieira's death.
Vieira described himself as "God's gift" to Guinea-Bissau during his tenure in office.
As of 2011, he is the only president of Guinea-Bissau
to be assassinated.
, then a city of Portuguese Guinea
. Originally trained as an electrician
, he joined the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde
(PAIGC) of Amílcar Cabral
in 1960 and soon became a key player in the territory's guerrilla war
against Portuguese
colonial
rule.
Vieira was a member of the Papel ethnic group, which comprises approximately 5% of Guinea-Bissau's population. By contrast, most of Guinea-Bissau's army officers, with whom Vieira had a tense relationship throughout his career, are members of the Balanta ethnicity, which dominates the country.
in Portuguese Guinea intensified, Vieira demonstrated a great deal of skill as a military leader and rapidly rose through its ranks. Vieira was known to his comrades as "Nino" and this remained his nom de guerre for the duration of the struggle.
Following regional council elections held in late 1972 in areas under PAIGC control, which led to the formation of a constituent assembly, Vieira was appointed president of the National People's Assembly. The guerrilla war began to turn against the Portuguese as expenditure, damages and loss of human lives remained a burden for Portugal. Following the coup d'état in Portugal in 1974
, the new Portuguese revolutionary government
which overthrew Lisbon's Estado Novo regime began to negotiate with the PAIGC. As his brother Amílcar had been assassinated in 1973, Luís Cabral
became the first president of independent Guinea-Bissau after independence was granted on 10 September 1974.
On 28 September 1978, Vieira was appointed as Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau
.
By 1980, economic conditions had deteriorated significantly, which led to general dissatisfaction with the government. On 14 November 1980, Vieira toppled the government of Luís Cabral
in a bloodless military coup, which led to the PAIGC in Cape Verde
splitting away and forming a separate party. The constitution was suspended and a nine-member military Council of the Revolution, chaired by Vieira, was set up. In 1984, a new constitution was approved that returned the country to civilian rule.
Guinea-Bissau, like the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa
, moved toward multiparty democracy
in the early 1990s. Through pressure from groups like the Democratic Front (FD) led by Aristide Menezes
, the ban on political parties was lifted in 1991 and elections were held in 1994. In the first round of the presidential election, held on 3 July 1994, Vieira received 46.20% of the vote against seven other candidates. He finished first, but failed to win the required majority, which led to a second round of voting on 7 August. He received 52.02% of the vote against 47.98% for Kumba Yalá
, a former philosophy lecturer and candidate of the Social Renewal Party (PRS). International election observers considered both rounds generally free and fair. Vieira was sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Guinea-Bissau on 29 September 1994.
Vieira dismissed military chief of staff Ansumane Mané
on 6 June 1998. Mané and his supporters in the military promptly rebelled, and the country descended into a civil war
between forces loyal to Vieira and rebels loyal to Mané. A peace agreement was signed in November 1998, and a transitional government was formed in preparation for new elections in 1999. On 27 November 1998, the National People's Assembly passed a motion demanding Vieira's resignation, with 69 deputies supporting the motion and none opposing it.
A renewed outbreak of fighting occurred in Bissau on 6 May 1999, and Vieira's forces surrendered on 7 May. He sought refuge in the Portuguese embassy and went into exile in Portugal in June. On 12 May, former Prime Minister Manuel Saturnino da Costa
was named acting President of PAIGC, 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".
. Although many considered Vieira to be ineligible because he had been living in exile and because of legal charges against him pertaining to the 1985 killings of suspected coup plotters, he was cleared to stand in the election by the Supreme Court in May 2005, along with Yalá. The Court unanimously ruled in favor of his candidacy on the grounds that he had already ended his exile by returning in April and that no court records of the murder charges could be found. His old party, the PAIGC, backed former interim president Malam Bacai Sanhá
as its candidate.
According to official results, Vieira placed second in the 19 June election with 28.87% of the vote, behind Malam Bacai Sanhá, and thus participated in the second round run-off. He officially defeated Sanhá in the run-off
on 24 July with 52.45% of the vote and was sworn in as President on 1 October.
On 28 October 2005, Vieira announced the dissolution of the government headed by his rival Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior
, citing the need to maintain stability; on 2 November he appointed his political ally Aristides Gomes
to the position.
In March 2007, PAIGC formed a three-party alliance with the Party for Social Renewal
(PRS) and the United Social Democratic Party
(PUSD), 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. In Kabi's three-party government, Interior Minister Baciro Dabo
was considered to be the only close ally of Vieira who was included. Later, after PAIGC withdrew from the three-party alliance to protest Kabi's actions, Vieira dissolved the National People's Assembly and appointed Carlos Correia
to replace Kabi as Prime Minister on 5 August 2008.
, in which PAIGC
won a majority of seats. The soldiers fired artillery at the house and were able to enter it during a three-hour battle with Vieira's guards, but they were repelled before they could reach Vieira, who was unharmed. At least one of Vieira's guards was killed, and others were injured. Vieira held a press conference later in the day, in which he said that the attack had "a single objective – to physically liquidate me", while also asserting that "the situation is under control".
, a key rival of Vieira, was killed by a bomb blast on 1 March 2009. Shortly afterwards, Vieira was shot dead by a group of soldiers while fleeing from his private residence in the early hours of 2 March 2009. Diplomats from Angola
attempted to take Vieira and his wife to the Angolan Embassy prior to his death, yet Vieira refused to leave while his wife was taken to safety. Bissau was described as "tense but calm" following his death. According to army spokesman Zamora Induta, Vieira was involved in the assassination of Tagme Na Waie, and Induta stated that "President Vieira was killed by the army as he tried to flee his house which was being attacked by a group of soldiers close to the chief of staff Tagme Na Waie, early this morning". The army denied that Vieira's killing marked a coup d'état
and said that the constitutional order would be followed, meaning that the President of the National People's Assembly
, Raimundo Pereira
, would succeed Vieira.
A doctor who was involved in Vieira's autopsy was quoted by Agence France-Presse
as saying that Vieira was "savagely beaten before being finished off with several bullets". British author Frederick Forsyth
, who was in Bissau at the time of the attack, alleged a more detailed account of the president's assassination. He claimed that during a meal with the forensic pathologist investigating the case, he was informed that Vieira was in fact hacked to death by soldiers wielding machetes at his mother-in-law's house. According to this account, Vieira survived an explosion and the collapse of the presidential villa's roof and was then shot when he emerged, injured, from the damaged building; nevertheless he remained alive until being taken to his mother-in-law's house and hacked to death. Forsyth attributed the bloody events to mutual hatred between Vieira and Tagme Na Waie, and he characterized both of them as violent people.
The council of ministers created a commission of inquiry in an emergency meeting to investigate the two assassinations.
A state funeral for Vieira, attended by thousands of people, was held in Bissau on 10 March 2009. No foreign leaders were present. At the funeral service held at the National People's Assembly, his daughter Elisa urged an end to the violence. The eulogy for Vieira stressed his importance in the war for independence and his adoption of multiparty politics and liberal economic reforms in the early 1990s.
, head of ECOWAS, declared "The death of a president, of a chief of staff, is very grave news," adding "It's not only the assassination of a president or a chief of staff, it's the assassination of democracy".
The African Union
called the killing a criminal act and the European Union
and United States
also condemned Vieira's murder.
Socialist International
, which Vieira's party is a member of, stated "The International has followed with great concern the recent political difficulties in Guinea-Bissau and reiterates its firm view that there never can be any justification for the use of force to resolve political disputes and that political assassination is a completely heinous and criminal act."http://www.socialistinternational.org/viewArticle.cfm?ArticleID=1978&Search=bissau
Heads of state of Guinea-Bissau
-Presidents of Guinea-Bissau :-Affiliations:-Latest election:-See also:*Guinea-Bissau**List of heads of government of Guinea-Bissau...
of 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 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
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...
and went into exile. He made a political comeback in 2005, winning that year's 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...
. Vieira was killed by soldiers on 2 March 2009, apparently in retaliation for a bomb blast that killed Guinea-Bissau's military chief General Batista Tagme Na Waie
Batista Tagme Na Waie
General Batista Tagme Na Waie, also transliterated as Batista Tagme Na Wai was chief of staff of the army of Guinea-Bissau until his assassination in 2009.Na Waie was born in Catió...
. The military officially denied these allegations after Army officials claimed responsibility for Vieira's death.
Vieira described himself as "God's gift" to Guinea-Bissau during his tenure in office.
As of 2011, he is the only president of 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....
to be assassinated.
Early life
Vieira was born in BissauBissau
Bissau is the capital city of Guinea-Bissau. The city's borders are conterminous with the Bissau Autonomous Sector. In 2007, the city had an estimated population of 407,424 according to the Instituto Nacional de Estatística e Censos...
, then a city of Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea was the name for what is today Guinea-Bissau from 1446 to September 10, 1974.-History:...
. Originally trained as an electrician
Electrician
An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. Electricians may also...
, he joined the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde
African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde
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...
(PAIGC) of 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...
in 1960 and soon became a key player in the territory's guerrilla war
Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War , also known in Portugal as the Overseas War or in the former colonies as the War of liberation , was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974, when the Portuguese regime was...
against 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...
colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
rule.
Vieira was a member of the Papel ethnic group, which comprises approximately 5% of Guinea-Bissau's population. By contrast, most of Guinea-Bissau's army officers, with whom Vieira had a tense relationship throughout his career, are members of the Balanta ethnicity, which dominates the country.
Early career
As the warPortuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War , also known in Portugal as the Overseas War or in the former colonies as the War of liberation , was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974, when the Portuguese regime was...
in Portuguese Guinea intensified, Vieira demonstrated a great deal of skill as a military leader and rapidly rose through its ranks. Vieira was known to his comrades as "Nino" and this remained his nom de guerre for the duration of the struggle.
Following regional council elections held in late 1972 in areas under PAIGC control, which led to the formation of a constituent assembly, Vieira was appointed president of the National People's Assembly. The guerrilla war began to turn against the Portuguese as expenditure, damages and loss of human lives remained a burden for Portugal. Following the coup d'état in Portugal in 1974
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 new Portuguese revolutionary government
Movimento das Forças Armadas
The Movement of the Armed Forces was an organisation of lower-ranked left-leaning officers in the Portuguese Armed Forces which was responsible for the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974, a military coup in Lisbon which ended the corporatist New State regime in Portugal, the Portuguese...
which overthrew Lisbon's Estado Novo regime began to negotiate with the PAIGC. As his brother Amílcar had been assassinated in 1973, 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 first president of independent Guinea-Bissau after independence was granted on 10 September 1974.
On 28 September 1978, Vieira was appointed as Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau
Heads of government of Guinea-Bissau
-Prime Ministers of Guinea-Bissau :-Affiliations:-See also:*Guinea-Bissau**List of heads of state of Guinea-Bissau**List of colonial heads of Portuguese Guinea...
.
By 1980, economic conditions had deteriorated significantly, which led to general dissatisfaction with the government. On 14 November 1980, Vieira toppled the government of 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...
in a bloodless military coup, which led to the PAIGC in 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...
splitting away and forming a separate party. The constitution was suspended and a nine-member military Council of the Revolution, chaired by Vieira, was set up. In 1984, a new constitution was approved that returned the country to civilian rule.
Guinea-Bissau, like the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
, moved toward multiparty democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
in the early 1990s. Through pressure from groups like the Democratic Front (FD) led by Aristide Menezes
Aristide Menezes
Aristide Menezes was a political figure in Guinea-Bissau who led the Democratic Front, the first opposition party to be legalized.-Life and career:...
, the ban on political parties was lifted in 1991 and elections were held in 1994. In the first round of the presidential election, held on 3 July 1994, Vieira received 46.20% of the vote against seven other candidates. He finished first, but failed to win the required majority, which led to a second round of voting on 7 August. He received 52.02% of the vote against 47.98% for Kumba Yalá
Kumba Ialá
Kumba Ialá, also spelled Yalá , is a Guinea-Bissau politician who was President of Guinea-Bissau from 17 February 2000 until he was deposed in a military coup on 14 September 2003. He belongs to the Balanta ethnic group and is the President of the Social Renewal Party...
, a former philosophy lecturer and candidate of the Social Renewal Party (PRS). International election observers considered both rounds generally free and fair. Vieira was sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Guinea-Bissau on 29 September 1994.
Civil war
Vieira was re-elected for another four-year term as President of PAIGC in mid-May 1998 at a party congress, with 438 votes in favor, eight opposed, and four abstaining.Vieira dismissed military chief of staff Ansumane Mané
Ansumane Mané
Ansumane Mané was a Guinea-Bissau soldier who led a 1998 uprising against the government of President João Bernardo Vieira, which caused a brief, but bloody Civil War....
on 6 June 1998. Mané and his supporters in the military promptly rebelled, and the country descended into a 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...
between forces loyal to Vieira and rebels loyal to Mané. A peace agreement was signed in November 1998, and a transitional government was formed in preparation for new elections in 1999. On 27 November 1998, the National People's Assembly passed a motion demanding Vieira's resignation, with 69 deputies supporting the motion and none opposing it.
A renewed outbreak of fighting occurred in Bissau on 6 May 1999, and Vieira's forces surrendered on 7 May. He sought refuge in the Portuguese embassy and went into exile in Portugal in June. On 12 May, 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, 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".
Return
After President Kumba Yalá was overthrown in September 2003 military coup, Vieira returned to Bissau from Portugal on 7 April 2005. Arriving in the city's main football stadium by helicopter, he was met by over 5,000 cheering supporters. Although Vieira's supporters had collected 30,000 signatures for a petition urging him to run for president, he did not immediately confirm his intention to do so, saying that he was returning "to re-establish [his] civic rights and to register to vote in the coming elections" and that he wanted to contribute to peace and stability. He also said that he had forgiven his enemies and that he hoped others would forgive him for any harm he had caused. On 16 April, it was announced that he intended to stand as a candidate in the June 2005 presidential electionGuinea-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...
. Although many considered Vieira to be ineligible because he had been living in exile and because of legal charges against him pertaining to the 1985 killings of suspected coup plotters, he was cleared to stand in the election by the Supreme Court in May 2005, along with Yalá. The Court unanimously ruled in favor of his candidacy on the grounds that he had already ended his exile by returning in April and that no court records of the murder charges could be found. His old party, the PAIGC, backed former interim president 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...
as its candidate.
According to official results, Vieira placed second in the 19 June election with 28.87% of the vote, behind Malam Bacai Sanhá, and thus participated in the second round run-off. He officially defeated Sanhá in the run-off
Two-round system
The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...
on 24 July with 52.45% of the vote and was sworn in as President on 1 October.
On 28 October 2005, Vieira announced the dissolution of the government headed by his rival Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior
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...
, citing the need to maintain stability; on 2 November he appointed his political ally 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....
to the position.
In March 2007, PAIGC formed a three-party alliance with 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) 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....
(PUSD), 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. In Kabi's three-party government, Interior Minister Baciro Dabo
Baciro Dabó
Major Baciro Dabó was a Guinea-Bissauan politician. Considered to have been a close ally of President João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, he served as Minister of Territorial Administration and was standing as a candidate in the June 2009 presidential election when he was killed by security forces,...
was considered to be the only close ally of Vieira who was included. Later, after PAIGC withdrew from the three-party alliance to protest Kabi's actions, Vieira dissolved the National People's Assembly 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....
to replace Kabi as Prime Minister on 5 August 2008.
November 2008 attack
Rebellious soldiers attacked Vieira's home in the early hours of 23 November 2008, shortly after the November 2008 parliamentary electionGuinea-Bissau legislative election, 2008
A parliamentary election was held on 16 November 2008 in Guinea-Bissau. The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde won a majority of 67 out of 100 seats, while the Party for Social Renewal won 28 seats.-Chronology:...
, in which PAIGC
African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde
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...
won a majority of seats. The soldiers fired artillery at the house and were able to enter it during a three-hour battle with Vieira's guards, but they were repelled before they could reach Vieira, who was unharmed. At least one of Vieira's guards was killed, and others were injured. Vieira held a press conference later in the day, in which he said that the attack had "a single objective – to physically liquidate me", while also asserting that "the situation is under control".
March 2009 attack
Army Chief of Staff Batista Tagme Na WaieBatista Tagme Na Waie
General Batista Tagme Na Waie, also transliterated as Batista Tagme Na Wai was chief of staff of the army of Guinea-Bissau until his assassination in 2009.Na Waie was born in Catió...
, a key rival of Vieira, was killed by a bomb blast on 1 March 2009. Shortly afterwards, Vieira was shot dead by a group of soldiers while fleeing from his private residence in the early hours of 2 March 2009. Diplomats from 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...
attempted to take Vieira and his wife to the Angolan Embassy prior to his death, yet Vieira refused to leave while his wife was taken to safety. Bissau was described as "tense but calm" following his death. According to army spokesman Zamora Induta, Vieira was involved in the assassination of Tagme Na Waie, and Induta stated that "President Vieira was killed by the army as he tried to flee his house which was being attacked by a group of soldiers close to the chief of staff Tagme Na Waie, early this morning". The army denied that Vieira's killing marked a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
and said that the constitutional order would be followed, meaning that the President of 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...
, Raimundo Pereira
Raimundo Pereira
Raimundo Pereira is a Guinea-Bissauan politician and lawyer who has been the President of the National People's Assembly of Guinea-Bissau since December 2008. A member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde , he served as President of Guinea-Bissau in an interim capacity...
, would succeed Vieira.
A doctor who was involved in Vieira's autopsy was quoted by Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
as saying that Vieira was "savagely beaten before being finished off with several bullets". British author Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth, CBE is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan and The Cobra.-...
, who was in Bissau at the time of the attack, alleged a more detailed account of the president's assassination. He claimed that during a meal with the forensic pathologist investigating the case, he was informed that Vieira was in fact hacked to death by soldiers wielding machetes at his mother-in-law's house. According to this account, Vieira survived an explosion and the collapse of the presidential villa's roof and was then shot when he emerged, injured, from the damaged building; nevertheless he remained alive until being taken to his mother-in-law's house and hacked to death. Forsyth attributed the bloody events to mutual hatred between Vieira and Tagme Na Waie, and he characterized both of them as violent people.
The council of ministers created a commission of inquiry in an emergency meeting to investigate the two assassinations.
A state funeral for Vieira, attended by thousands of people, was held in Bissau on 10 March 2009. No foreign leaders were present. At the funeral service held at the National People's Assembly, his daughter Elisa urged an end to the violence. The eulogy for Vieira stressed his importance in the war for independence and his adoption of multiparty politics and liberal economic reforms in the early 1990s.
International reaction
Mohamed Ibn ChambasMohamed Ibn Chambas
Mohamed Ibn Chambas is a lawyer, diplomat, politician and academic from Ghana. In 2002 he became the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States . In 2007, he was appointed the group's first President by the governments of its member states, serving a four year term...
, head of ECOWAS, declared "The death of a president, of a chief of staff, is very grave news," adding "It's not only the assassination of a president or a chief of staff, it's the assassination of democracy".
The African Union
African Union
The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...
called the killing a criminal act and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
also condemned Vieira's murder.
Socialist International
Socialist International
The Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
, which Vieira's party is a member of, stated "The International has followed with great concern the recent political difficulties in Guinea-Bissau and reiterates its firm view that there never can be any justification for the use of force to resolve political disputes and that political assassination is a completely heinous and criminal act."http://www.socialistinternational.org/viewArticle.cfm?ArticleID=1978&Search=bissau
Career list
- Political Commissioner & Military Chief for the Catió Region (1961)
- Military Commander of the Southern Front (1964)
- Member of the PAIGC Political Bureau (1964–1965)
- Vice-President of the PAIGC War Council (1965–1967)
- Southern Front Political Bureau Delegate (1967–1970)
- Member of the PAIGC War Council Executive Committee (1970–1971)
- Member of the PAIGC Permanent Secretariat (1973 – ????)
- Named PAIGC Deputy Secretary-General in 1973
- President of the People's National Assembly (1973–1978)
- Prime Minister (28 September 1978 – 14 November 1980)
- Chairman of the Council of the Revolution (14 November 1980 – 14 May 1984)
- Chairman of the Council of State (16 May 1984 – 29 September 1994)
- President of Guinea-Bissau (29 September 1994 – 7 May 1999)
- President of Guinea-Bissau (1 October 2005 – 2 March 2009)