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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Guinea Bissau denies rumours of ill president's death |
| 2011-12-05 |
| [Daily Nation (Kenya)] Guinea Bissau's presidency on Saturday denied rumours that its critically ill leader Malam Bacai Sanha, 64, had died in a Gay Paree hospital where he is being treated. "The presidency denies persistent, contradictory and unfounded rumours circulating in the country and abroad that the president is dead," a statement said. It called on the population of the troubled country to remain calm and pledged to continue to give information on Sanha's health. "President Malam Bacai Sanha's health is improving after he was placed in an artificial coma to allow in-depth treatment," the presidency added. Sanha's wife Mariam told AFP from Gay Paree where her husband is at the Val de Grace military hospital: "My husband is not dead but he is in a critical state." The president, who was elected in 2009 after his predecessor was assassinated, was admitted to a hospital in neighbouring Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... just over a week ago before being transferred to Val de Grace which frequently takes in ailing leaders of French allies. Sanha has spent much of his term in office in and out of the troubled country for health reasons. While he is knows to suffer from diabetes the nature of his illness has never been divulged. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Guinea-Bissau's chaos is evident in the rotting infrastructure all over the capital city. Middle Daughter visited in 2007, and when she asked about the disintegration of the presidential mansion she was told that the damages were from a bomb ten years earlier. About Fred's line about Senegal's " primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees..." Also true. Many of the refugees are escaped Black African slaves from Mauretania. Mauretania finally got around to making slavery officially illegal in 1989, but hasn't enforced its laws. Recently, the population of Senegal was outraged by the persistent mistreatment of young boys called Talibe. The Talibe are sent to live with an imam to learn the Koran. In practice, that means that the imam sends the kids out to beg for food all day and then drills recitations of Koranic verses at night. The kids get no real education and learn no job skills; and they often get beaten for not bringing back enough. In 2010, the Senegalese press printed some exposes on the subject. In response to the resulting public investigations, the imams moved their operations into Mauretania. |
| Posted by: mom 2011-12-05 16:36 |