The Gambian government has described as "untrue and unfounded" reports by Guinea-Bissau's president, Kumba Yala, that the Gambia was involved in two reported plots to overthrow the Bissau government.

Guinea-Bissau faces a daunting task to improve children’s well being. While national immunisation coverage has improved, its 40 percent primary school enrolment was decreasing, the UN High Commission for Human Rights (UNHCHR) reported on Wednesday.

"Human rights defenders and political opponents in Guinea Bissau are facing a sustained clamp-down on peaceful opposition and criticism of government policy," Amnesty International have warned, adding that the government was also increasingly interfering in matters outside its jurisdiction.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has suspended the implementation of a human rights programme in Guinea-Bissau, FIDH Secretary-General Antoine Bernard told IRIN on Wednesday. The move follows the detention of the vice president of the country's human rights league and the issuing of a warrant for the arrest of its former president in connection with an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of funds donated in 1999 to the LDGH.

After spending one and half months in prison, the 29 alleged plotters of a coup attempt reported in Guinea Bissau last month, will finally be allowed to meet defence lawyers, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported on Friday.

Amnesty International is concerned about the wave of arrests of former military personnel in the aftermath of an alleged coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau last week.

The United States and Cape Verde on Tuesday, expressed concern over the announcement by Guinea-Bissau that it foiled an attempted coup on Sunday, and arrested suspected plotters.

The independence of the judiciary and the media have come under attack, Amnesty International and Reporters sans Frontieres say.

Two journalists were arrested on 14 November 2001 by order of the state prosecutor. The two journalists were taken to the central police station in Bissau. No explanation was provided to explain the motive for the arrests. On 27 October, N'Tchama ordered the indefinite closure of the private daily "Diário de Bissau" and the private weekly "Gazeta de Noticias" because of "irregular activities." The prosecutor also accused the publications of disturbing the country's "peace and stability" and "violating official secrets.

Some 400 representatives of security forces, state bodies and civil society in Gabu, eastern Guinea-Bissau, have recommended the formation of a commission to monitor the observance of human rights in the area.

RSF protested the closure of two private newspapers, the daily "Diario de Bissau" and the weekly "Gazeta de Noticias". "The independent press has been in the authorities' sights since Mr. Yala's election to the presidency of Guinea-Bissau in January 2000," stated Robert Mard, the organisation's secretary-general.

Leaders of opposition parties in Guinea-Bissau agreed on Tuesday to press for the holding of an extraordinary session of the National Assembly to discuss the situation in the West African country, a diplomatic source in the capital, Bissau, told IRIN.

There was no activity in Guinea-Bissau's courts on Tuesday as magistrates began a 30-day strike against the dismissal by President Kumba Yala of four members of the Supreme Court, including its president and vice president.

Reporters without Borders (RSF-reporters sans Frontieres) has expressed concern about threats which, it said, were made by Guinea-Bissau's Attorney General, Caetano Intchama, against journalists from a private radio station. In a letter sent on 11 September to Intchama, who was appointed last week, RSF asked him to apologise to the newsroom of Radio Pidjiquiti and publicly declare his commitment to press freedom.

There has been rising tension within Guinea-Bissau's army, the Senegalese news agency, APS, and other sources reported. The tension appears to centre on the future of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Verissimo Correia Seabra.

Health authorities in Guinea-Bissau seized on Wednesday 140 kg of expired medicine from several pharmacies and street vendors in the capital, Bissau, as part of an effort to combat the sales of illegal medicine, the Panafrican News Agency (PANA) reported on Thursday.