Photo: (Thierry Charlier) President Joao Bernardo Vieira, Guinea-BissauI must admit, I never thought much about Guinea-Bissau until I heard on the news this morning that its president, Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira, was assassinated in his palace today by a group of soldiers, hours after his rival was murdered in a bomb blast. The military issued a statement broadcast on state radio and attributed President Vieira’s death to an “isolated” group of unidentified soldiers whom the armed forces said they were now hunting down. Right.
This upheaval is nothing new to the former Portuguese colony, which has suffered multiple coups and attempted coups since 1980, when Vieira himself first took power in one. The United Nations says the impoverished nation on the Atlantic coast of Africa has recently become a key transit point for cocaine smuggled from Latin America to Europe.
It’s just a shame that some of the African countries just can’t get their acts together and focus on making these countries better. Take Zimbabwe’s dictator Robert Mugabe, for example. As the country is rocked by stratospheric unemployment rates, he had a lavish birthday bash, fit for the king of a wealthy country. Africa is so rich in so many things, it is a shame that so many of the continent’s countries are mired in such ills and unscrupulous and criminal leaders. I don’t know much about this country, but corruption begets corruption. With President Vieira’s murder, let’s see if the country will regain its footing. I seriously doubt it will change drastically.
Filed under: Assassination, Guinea-Bissau, Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, Military Coup, Political Unrest, Portuguese Colony, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe
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