Timeline Guinea-Bissau
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CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/pu.html
Excite travel: http://www.excite.com/travel/countries/guinea-bissau/
USSD: http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/bgnotes/af/guineabissau9404.html
West coast of Africa, west of Guinea. Formerly
Portuguese
Guinea.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)(WUD, 1994, p.629)
Guinea-Bissau, a nation the size of Massachusetts with a
population
of about 1 million, has an average annual per capita gross domestic
product
of about $180.
(AP, 9/16/03)
1974
Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, became independent
after a decade-long war.
(SFC, 5/15/99, p.A14)(AP, 10/6/03)
1975 May 25, ECOWAS Treaty1 was
signed. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was
formed in Nigeria with 15 members that included: Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
(www.sec.ecowas.int/sitecedeao/english/achievements.htm)
1980 Nov 13, A military coup led
by Joao Bernardo Viera deposed President Luis Cabral of the Republic of
Guinea-Bissau.
(www.onwar.com/aced/data/golf/guineabissau1980.htm)
1994 Guinea-Bissau held democratic
elections.
(AP, 10/6/03)
1998 Jan, Brig. Gen’l. Ansumane
Mane was fired amid allegations of smuggling arms to separatists in
Senegal.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 9, Senegal and Guinea
sent troops to aid Pres. Vieira in Guinea-Bissau. Rebels led by
Ansumane Mane had just staged a coup to end the 18-year rule of Pres.
Vieira, who was accused of corruption.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A9)
1998 Jun 11, Between 1,500 and
2,000 foreigners, mostly Portuguese, were evacuated by ship from the
capital of Guinea-Bissau, where civil war raged.
(AP, 6/11/03)
1998 Jun 12, Some 200 people
drowned as they fled the country by boat.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 14, In Guinea-Bissau the
fighting intensified and thousands of people sought escape routes.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 16, Senegal fired
artillery into Guinea-Bissau to support Pres. Vieira.
(WSJ, 6/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Jul 5, Heavy fighting covered
the capital in smoke. A regional intervention force was being prepared.
(WSJ, 7/6/98, p.A1)
1998 Jul 11, In Guinea-Bissau
Radio Bombolon mixed music and junta rhetoric and featured the Iva and
Ichy local hit duo.
(SFC, 7/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Jul 26, Army rebels and the
government agreed to a cease-fire and promised to open peace talks.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 21, In Guinea-Bissau
heavy artillery fire rocked the capital and rebels claimed to have
captured Bafata, the 2nd largest town.
(SFC, 10/22/98, p.C5)
1998 Nov 2, In Guinea-Bissau the
government and rebels signed an agreement to end the 5-month civil war.
(SFC, 11/3/98, p.C12)
1999 Feb 1, In Guinea-Bissau
thousands fled the capital as fighting intensified between rebels and
loyalists. At least 15 people were reported killed. Most of the 6,000
member army joined the rebellion to depose Pres. Joao Bernardo Vieira.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 2, In Guinea-Bissau a
grenade destroyed a church and killed 3 people. 35 people were reported
killed since fighting began Jan 31.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A10)
1999 Feb 3, In Guinea-Bissau Pres.
Joao Bernardo Vieira agreed to a cease fire with rebel leader Ansumane
Mane.
(SFC, 2/4/99, p.A12)
1999 May 7, Renegade troops forced
the surrender of the 600-man presidential guard and ousted Pres. Joao
Bernardo Vieira, who sought refuge in the Portuguese Embassy.
(SFC, 5/8/99, p.C14)
1999 May 14, In Guinea-Bissau
Malan Bacai Sanha (52), former head of parliament, was declared the 3rd
president.
(SFC, 5/15/99, p.A14)
2000 Jan, In Guinea-Bissau Kumba
Yala won the presidency with 72% of the vote.
(Econ, 9/20/03, p.46)
2002 Guinea-Bissau Pres. Kumba
Yala dissolved Parliament and delayed elections 3 times.
(AP, 10/6/03)
2003 Sep 14, In the West Africa
country of Guinea-Bissau the army launched a coup, arresting the
president and ordering government ministers detained. Verissimo Correia
Seabre and fellow senior officers arrested the elected president, Kumba
Yala.
(AP, 9/14/03)
2003 Sep 16, Guinea-Bissau's army
chief of staff who overthrew the West African nation's president has
won an agreement from political leaders to have presidential powers
until new elections are held.
(AP, 9/16/03)
2003 Sep 28, In Guinea-Bissau
senior army officers, who staged a recent coup, installed
Henrique Rosa as civilian president and Artur Sanha as prime minister
to govern the West African country until elections. Civil servants
hadn't been paid in nearly a year and teachers hadn't been paid in two.
Soldiers were getting bags of rice instead of paychecks.
(AP, 9/29/03)(AP, 10/6/03)
2004 Mar 8, Guinea-Bissau soldiers
released deposed Pres. Kumba Yala from house arrest, six months after
he was ousted in a bloodless coup on Sep 14.
(AP, 3/9/04)
2004 Sep 15, Eight French speaking
African countries began retiring over 1 billion in decaying currency
with new CFA francs. Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast,
Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo had until Dec 31 to turn in old bills for
new ones.
(SFC, 9/15/04, p.C8)
2004 Oct 6, In Guinea-Bissau
soldiers recently back from a U.N. peacekeeping mission and angry over
unpaid wages staged a revolt, surrounding a main military building in
the West African nation's capital.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2005 Jun 19, Guinea-Bissau began
its first presidential election since a 2003 coup, with 13 contenders
vying to become the West African country's leader. The candidates
include the man the military ousted two years ago.
(AP, 6/19/05)
2007 Jan 3, China's Foreign
Minister Li Zhaoxing arrived in the central African nation of
Guinea-Bissau for cooperation talks. His 7-nation tour reflected
Chinese interest in Africa.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 10, Former Guinea-Bissau
PM Carlos Gomes Jr. sought asylum at the local UN office, three days
after he said President Vieira was behind the assassination of an
ex-military commander last week.
(AP, 1/10/07)
2007 Jan, Guinea-Bissau officials
learned that Whoopi Goldberg (51) had taken a DNA test that indicated
her ancestors came from the indigenous Papel and Bayote tribes. They
soon extended to her a formal invitation to visit.
(SFC, 2/8/07, p.A2)
2007 Apr 17, Guinea-Bissau's new
PM Martinho Ndafa Cabi announced an opposition-dominated government
after being chosen to lead the poor west African nation following a
political crisis.
(AFP, 4/17/07)
2007 Jun 9, Recent large seizures
of cocaine confirmed that Guinea-Bissau had become a major drug
distribution hub. The cocaine from Latin America arrived by boat and
plane and was sent on to markets mostly in Europe.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.54)
2007 Aug 6, South Africa stated
its readiness to assist Guinea Bissau in tackling drug trafficking as
the tiny west African nation has been used as a transit hub for
European-bound cocaine.
(AP, 8/6/07)
2007 Nov 1, A top UN official said
South American traffickers are moving billions of dollars worth of
cocaine through Guinea-Bissau, amid growing demand in Europe, an amount
so large it dwarfs all other economic sectors combined and could
destabilize the coup-prone country.
(AP, 11/3/07)
2007 Dec 19, Donors pledged
millions of dollars at a conference in Spain to help Guinea Bissau,
which a top UN official called "under siege" by drug cartels who might
even sway the country's future polls.
(AFP, 12/19/07)
2008 Aug 8, Guinea Bissau's army
announced it had arrested rear admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchute, the
head of the navy, over an attempted coup.
(AFP, 8/9/08)
2008 Aug 12, Security forces in
Gambia arrested Rear Adm. Bubo Na Tchuto, the suspected leader of an
alleged plot to topple the government in nearby Guinea-Bissau.
(AP, 8/12/08)
2008 Nov 16, Guinea Bissau, seen
as a major African drugs hub, went to the polls for parliamentary
elections, which observers hoped would bring stability to the West
African nation. The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and
Cape Verde (PAIGC), which has been dominant since independence from
Portugal in 1974, is favorite to win the election.
(AP, 11/16/08)(AFP, 11/17/08)
2008 Nov 23, In Guinea Bissau
mutinous soldiers fought their way into the fortified residence of
President Joao Bernardo Vieira's in a 3-hour gunbattle but did
not hurt the head of state.
(AP, 11/23/08)
2009 Jan 10, In Guinea-Bissau a
boat carrying passengers on the Geba River capsized in strong winds,
leaving 42 people missing.
(AP, 1/13/09)
2009 Mar 2, In Guinea-Bissau
soldiers assassinated President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira in his
palace hours after a bomb blast killed his rival. A pre-dawn gunfight
at the palace erupted hours after armed forces chief of staff Gen.
Batiste Tagme na Waie, a longtime rival of the president, was killed by
a bomb blast at his headquarters. The military insisted no coup was
taking place.
(AP, 3/2/09)
2009 Mar 3, Lawmakers in
Guinea-Bissau voted to uphold the constitution by which parliament
speaker Raimundo Pereira succeeds as interim president, following the
assassination of the head of state. Pereira took the oath of office.
(AFP, 3/3/09)(SFC, 3/4/09, p.A2)
2009 Jun 5, Authorities in
Guinea-Bissau said they foiled an attempted coup, and security forces
killed two people allegedly involved, including a candidate in the
upcoming presidential ballot. Guinea-Bissau's intelligence service said
the coup plot was masterminded by former Defense Minister Helder
Proenca and that presidential candidate Baciro Dabo was also involved.
Both men died in separate shootings.
(AP, 6/5/09)(SFC, 6/6/09, p.A2)
2009 Jun 28, Guinea-Bissau held
elections for a new leader to replace the late President Joao Bernardo
"Nino" Vieira, who was assassinated more than three months ago. The
population of Guinea-Bissau stood at about 1.5 million. Leading a pack
of 11 candidates were three former presidents seeking to retake the
post. The election was marked by one of the lowest turnouts ever. If no
candidate wins an overall majority in the first round, the election
will go to a run-off between the two highest-placed contenders on July
28.
(AP, 6/28/09)(AFP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jul 5, Guinea-Bissau said the
second round of presidential elections has been brought forward to July
26 to enable farmers to continue harvesting unhindered.
(AFP, 7/5/09)
2009 Jul 26, Guinea-Bissau voters
went to the polls for a presidential runoff between two former heads of
state. The West African country’s veteran leader was assassinated
in March. On July 29 election officials announced that Malam Bacai
Sanha was the new president. Sanha took 63.39% of the runoff vote,
beating opponent Kumba Yala, who took 36.69%.
(AFP, 7/26/09)(AP, 7/29/09)
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Subject = Guinea Bissau
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