President Henrique Rosa has formally opened the first public university in Guinea-Bissau, nearly 30 years after the small West African country achieved independence from Portugal.

Government schools in Guinea-Bissau reopened on Wednesday after the World Bank agreed to provide an exceptional US $2.5 million loan to pay teachers 10 months of salary arrears. The school system of this former Portuguese colony in West Africa has been paralysed for most of the past two years by a series of teachers' strikes.

The head of Guinea-Bissau’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) has called for parliamentary elections to be held in January, several months ahead of the target set by the transitional authorities. NEC president Higino Cardoso pointed out that 95 percent of the preparations for elections had already been completed before the bloodless coup that deposed former President Kumba Yala on 14 September.

A candidate nominated by the coup leaders in Guinea Bissau to head the interim government, Antonio Sangha, was rejected this week by an adhoc committee set up to ratify the appointment. The committee which acted in consonance with public opinion said the businessman was an ally of coup leader, General Verissimo Correia Seabra.

"The military of Guinea Bissau has taken this action because the government is abusing the constitution and seems incapable of resolving the country's mounting political and economic problems,” says Verissimo Correia Seabre, the army General who led Sunday's coup. Already, the coup has been condemned by the regional body ECOWAS, or the Economic Commission of West African States, the African Union, the United Nations and the Association of Portuguese Speaking Countries. And mediation efforts are underway.
Related Link:
* President resigns
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3113572.stm

Parliamentary elections in Guinea-Bissau, which have already been delayed three times this year, are to take place on 12 October, President Kumba Yala announced on Monday.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has cast doubt on Guinea-Bissau's ability to hold credible parliamentary elections next month, remarking that the small West African country "has embarked on a downward course" following its return to democracy three years ago.

Legislative elections in Guinea-Bissau, which are scheduled for July 6, may not take place because of the political and economic crisis in the former Portuguese colony. “Unless the president decides otherwise, the commission is committed to conducting the legislative elections in July,” says Filomeno Lobo de Pina, the Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission. Guinea-Bissau's economy is in dire crisis, with public sector workers on strike.

The editor of Guinea-Bissau's state-run RDN radio station was suspended last Wednesday by the government for covering the return home of an opposition politician, the Portuguese news agency, Lusa, reported.

The leaders of five Portuguese-speaking nations are to hold talks on Friday on elections in Guinea-Bissau, amid international concerns over the fairness of the polls. The meeting has been called in Luanda by Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who is head of Palop, the five-nation Portuguese-language community.

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has written to President Kumba Yala of Guinea-Bissau expressing serious concern at the government's closure of Radio Bombolom. According to reports, on 13 February police shuttered Radio Bombolom's offices, forcing the broadcaster off the air. The Ministry of Information accused the station of 'broadcasting false information that could jeopardise national sovereignty and the stability of the country'.

UNICEF has agreed to provide Guinea-Bissau with assistance worth US $23 million under a new five-year support and cooperation programme that will continue until 2007. The programme will cover child protection, nutritional health, primary education and functional literacy, and a social communication policy, the programme's coordinator, Karim Alkadiri, told IRIN.

Police in Guinea-Bissau have detained five prominent opposition politicians - including a former prime minister. The arrests come as the country prepares for early elections on 20 April.

Guinean League of Human Rights Vice-president Mr. Joao Vas Mane was arrested on January 29, 2003 and is being held without charge in Guinea-Bissau. Write to the authorities and lobby for his release and an end to the harassment of human rights defenders in the country.

General elections are to be held in Guinea-Bissau on 23 February, President Kumba Yala announced on Monday. The announcement came just over a week after Yala dissolved parliament and dismissed the Social Renovation Party (PRS) cabinet led by Prime Minister Almara Nhasse, replacing it with a caretaker administration.

Guinea-Bissau President Kumba Yala said last Thursday he would dissolve parliament, call early elections and seek a popular mandate to strengthen his powers, news organisations reported. Yala accused the legislature of "subversion" and charged his minority Social Renovation Party (PRS) government with corruption, the Portuguese news agency LUSA reported.

Guinea-Bissau's opposition parties demanded last Friday the resignation of President Kumba Yala, saying he had interfered with the independent judiciary and encouraged tribalism to destabilize the country, news agencies reported.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has asked his Special Envoy for The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, James Victor Gbeho, to return to West Africa to promote peace between the two countries, the UN reported on Monday.

The overall situation in Guinea-Bissau has remained calm over the past three months, but political tensions still run high, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in his latest report on the West African nation to the UN Security Council.

Economic growth in least developed countries has increased from levels seen 10 years ago, but 13 countries led by Guinea-Bissau and the Solomon Islands had "regressing economies".