Voter registration dates set

Voters in Guinea-Bissau have between 22 August and 2 September to register for upcoming presidential and general elections, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest situation report.

The country's largest political parties, Resistencia da Guine Bissau- Movimento Ba- Fata (RGB-MB) and Partido Africano da Independencia da Guine e Cabo Verde (PAIGC) have scheduled party congresses for 13-15 August and 18-22 August respectively.

Presidential and legislative elections are due on 28 November, as part of a peace accord concluded late in 1998 between then president Joao Bernardo Vieira and the leaders of a military revolt which eventually led to Vieira's overthrow on 7 May 1999.

PAIGC leader criticises justice authorities

The interim president of the PAIGC, Saturnino da Costa, has said recent arrests by authorities investigating participants in the military uprising would do nothing to enhance national reconciliation, Lusa reported on Thursday.

The agency said some 300 people remained imprisoned on charges related to the conflict which began on 7 June 1998. Most of the prisoners are soldiers loyal to Vieira and leading figures close to him.

Da Costa said although those implicated in wrong-doing should stand trial, national reconciliation called for a willingness to forgive. Lusa said the justice authorities were targeting leaders of the PAIGC - the party that fought and won the independence war against Portugal - for political reasons. The party ruled from independence in 1973 to February, when a government of national unity took over after the military revolt.

UNICEF programme on war trauma

Meanwhile, UNICEF has sponsored a programme to help sensitise health care employees to the trauma caused by war, OCHA reported. A child psychologist spent six weeks training heath staff to detect and treat post-conflict stress disorders in children, OCHA said.