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The Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Guinea-Bissau, Samuel Nana-Sinkam, has urged the Guinea-Bissau authorities to release prisoners of war detained since May, a UN official told IRIN on Wednesday.
He said that Nana-Sinkam's appeal followed his visit, with the Portuguese Ambassador Antonio Dias, to the country's military prisons.
The UN source said that Nana-Sinkam, who is also head of the UN
Peace-Building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau, had expressed concern over the poor conditions in which some of the prisoners were being held and that some had been in prison for eight months without trial.
The Portuguese news agency, Lusa, reported Dias as saying that the POW situation was the only blotch on the otherwise "exemplary" transition period after the 11-month military rebellion that ended in May 1999.
About 100 supporters of former president Nino Vieira remain imprisoned. The first trial, of former agriculture minister Avito Jose da Silva, is scheduled for 22 February, news organisations reported.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions