Protagonists meet

Rival leaders in Guinea Bissau’s war have agreed on measures to bolster the fragile peace, on disarmament and the quartering of all troops, news reports said today. Agreement on this between President Joao Bernardo Vieira and the leader of the self-styled military junta, Ansumane Mane, was reached yesterday(Sunday) at an hour-long meeting chaired by European Commissioner Emma Bonino. She described the meeting as “an important step” in the return to peace, AFP reported. This was the first meeting of both men since November 1998 when they signed an accord ending five months of war in a leadership struggle. Renewed fighting erupted in the capital, Bissau, earlier this month ending the truce just as West African peacekeepers were due to land. Nevertheless, some 600 of these troops - from Benin, The Gambia, Niger and Togo—are now being deployed as a buffer between rival forces. On Saturday, Guinea Bissau Prime Minister-designate Francisco Fadul announced his government of national unity would take office on either 20 or 21 February. Fadul and the military junta have always stated the departure of Guinean and Senegalese troops from Guinea Bissau as a condition for the formation of the government.