New Foreign Minister named

A week after dismissing Foreign Minister Rosa Gomes, President Kumba Yala on Wednesday appointed Malam Mane, previously secretary of state for international cooperation. The appointment of Mane was announced in a decree issued in the capital Bissau on 28 November, PANA reported on Thursday. Yala sacked Gomes for reasons that remain unclear while she was in Lisbon, Portugal, en route home from leading a government delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York. The day before, Yala had gone to the ministry and openly criticised her performance. The sacking of Gomes was the latest of several presidential decisions that have created an unstable political situation in the West African nation. In September, Yala sacked four Supreme Court judges for alleged corruption and relieved the Attorney General, Rui Sanha of his duties. Meanwhile lawyers from Portuguese-speaking countries have condemned the government's interference with the judiciary. The lawyers, through their association, Ad Jus, plan to ask leaders of their respective countries to intervene to resolve the crisis, the Panafrican News Agency quoted the association's president, David Hopffer Almada, as saying.