Opposition parties back stability plan

Guinea-Bissau's two main opposition parties have pledged to back a plan by Prime Minister Alamara Nhasse to strengthen national unity by encouraging harmony among the country's various ethnic groups, the Portuguese news agency, Lusa, reported on Wednesday. The former ruling African Party for Independence in Guinea and Cape Verde, and the Guinea-Bissau Resistance party said they would support the plan in the interest of political stability and the "higher interest of the nation", Lusa reported. Nhasse presented his plan to parliament on Wednesday, in the presence of diplomats, for debate this week by 102 lawmakers. Lusa reported that Nhasse, who took office in December 2001, said the plan was "a noble and superior instrument to implement a pact between the Social Renovation Party and the Guinean people". The 30-page document calls for local elections this year, the first in the country's 28 years of independence. It also calls for political, social and economic dialogue among "all political forces and civil society representatives", in the government drive to stamp out poverty. Guinea-Bissau has lurched from one political crisis to another since an army rebellion in June 1998, which finally led to the overthrow of President Joao Bernardo Vieira. In addition, since coming to power in 2000, the ruling Social Renovation Party has been at odds with opposition groups with some repeatedly calling for the resignation of the nation's president, Kumba Yala. He dismissed the foreign minister and prime minister on 21 November and on 3 December 2001. Also the in December, Yala announced a foiled coup and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Annan appealed to politicians "to continue to resolve their differences through dialogue and within the framework of the constitution".