Senegal and Guinea have begun to withdraw their troops from Guinea-Bissau, Senegal’s state radio, quoted by the Portuguese Lusa news agency, said yesterday. It said the first units to pull out included about 200 Senegalese troops and 30 Guineans. Senegal and Guinea sent some 2,500 soldiers to support President Joao Bernardo Vieira following an army mutiny in 1998. Their departure and, simultaneously, the deployment of ECOMOG troops is a provision in the Abuja accords signed in November 1998 between the Junta and the beleaguered Vieira government. So far, only about 120 Togolese ECOMOG troops have arrived in Bissau to secure the city’s airport. An ECOWAS statement received by IRIN yesterday said the deployment of ECOMOG troops is scheduled for the end of this month.
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