Portugal granted political asylum on Sunday to Guinea Bissau's ousted president, Joao Bernardo Vieira, but it was not immediately clear whether his opponents would allow him to leave the Portuguese Embassy in Bissau where he and his family have taken refuge, news reports said.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres announced the asylum offer on arrival in Greece for an official visit, AFP reported.
Although Guinea Bissau Prime Minister Francisco Fadul said that Vieira, who came to power in a 1980 coup, would be allowed to live in exile, Zamora Induta, spokesman for the Military Junta in Bissau, demanded that Vieira stand trial for treason, AFP reported.
AFP also quoted sources as saying that Vieira loyalists, whom the Junta arrested and handed over to the West African peace monitoring group, ECOMOG, would be tried in court for illegally selling arms to separatists in the Casamance region in southern Senegal.
Accusations and counter accusations on gun-running to the Senegalese separatists - and Vieira's consequent dismissal of Mane as armed forces chief of staff - sparked a military rebellion that the former chief of staff launched on 6 June. However, a parliamentary investigation found other government officials culpable in the affair and implicated Vieira of
indirect involvement.
Meanwhile, the speaker of the national assembly, Malam Sanha, has been appointed acting president of Guinea Bissau, Africa No. 1 radio reported at the weekend.
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