| Get to the last paragraph and you'll see why you should care ... |
BISSAU, March 4 (Reuters) - Guinea-Bissau's prime minister appealed on Wednesday for more foreign aid to help the West African country through a crisis after its president and army chief were killed in separate attacks this week.
| Because nothing helps you get back the assassination of public figures like a little foreign aid ... |
The twin killings of the two figures whose rivalry has dominated years of instability prompted concern about further unrest or a military coup, which was allayed when the civilian speaker of parliament was sworn in as interim leader on Tuesday.
"Guinea-Bissau needs financial aid to overcome the crisis it is going through," Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior said after meeting Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the head of the commission of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Vieira was shot dead in his own home early on Monday hours after his longstanding rival, armed forces chief General Batista Tagme Na Wai, was killed in an explosion at the military headquarters. Vieira's wife took refuge in the Angolan embassy in Bissau, and supporters fears further reprisal attacks against Vieira's associates, particularly by members of Na Wai's Balante ethnic group which dominates the armed forces.
Gomes Junior said the army had given its commitment to obey the civilian authorities. "Democracy can not go hand in hand with persecution and violence. We are in a law-abiding state," he said.
| As evidenced by the assassination of your leaders. |
The delegation from Portuguese-speaking countries, who have been meeting various senior Guinea-Bissau officials since Tuesday, said their countries stood ready to help establish peace and democracy but that Bissau itself needed to pursue reforms.
Like other West African countries, impoverished Guinea-Bissau has been targeted by Latin American drug smuggling gangs who regard its virtually unpoliced coastline and corruptible officials as an easy route to traffic Colombian cocaine into Africa and on to lucrative markets in Europe. U.N. narcotics experts say the drug trade has exacerbated insecurity and corruption in a country already racked by years of coups and civil conflict, and threatens to turn West Africa into a "Coke Coast".
| Wanna bet Hugo and the Iranians are looking at this as well? |
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