Democratisation remains fragile - UN

Despite the election of a new parliament and government in Guinea-Bissau, state finances remain very weak, serious problems in the security forces have yet to be tackled and the process of democratisation remains "fragile," the United Nations said in its latest six-monthly report on the small West African country. The report from Secretary General Kofi Annan to the UN Security Council said the situation in the former Portuguese colony remained peaceful and the holding of parliamentary elections at the end of March marked "a major step forward towards restoring constitutional order." It also congratulated the ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which emerged as the largest party in the elections, for coming to an agreement with the main opposition party, the Party for Social Renovation (PRS) on a legislative programme. "I am encouraged by the manner in which the country's principal actors have managed to reach consensus on critical political challenges they faced during and after the elections," Annan said. However, the UN report highlighted the persistence of ethnic imbalances and pay arrears in the armed forces and the poor condition of military barracks, describing these as "potentially destabilising factors." Divisions within the army and the political establishment led to a civil war from 1998 to 1999. The army staged a bloodless coup in September last year which removed Guinea-Bissau's previous elected president Kumba Yala, whose rule had become increasingly erratic. However, that move paved the way for the holding of fresh parliamentary elections which Yala had repeatedly delayed. The UN report also sounded alarm bells about the desperate economic situation in Guinea-Bissau, where two thirds of the 1.3 million people live below the poverty line and the government depends on foreign aid to pay the salaries of public sector employees. Its said an emergency budget for 2004, drawn up with the support of the International Monetary Fund, Wold Bank and African Development Bank, included an US$18.3 million financing gap to be filled by foreign aid. But to date, donors had only committed $4 million to this fund, with the biggest contributions coming from the Netherlands, Sweden, France and Portugal, it noted. "The fund has already disbursed $2.5 million that were used by the Government to pay January through April 2004 salaries for 11,000 civil servants. Unpaid salary arrears still constitute a critical problem for the country, especially given that the state revenues have been far short of projections," the UN report said. Guinea-Bissau, a country of swampy lowlands traversed by wide meandering rivers, relies on exports of cashew nuts and revenue from licencing foreign fishing boats to operate in its offshore waters for most of its foreign exchange earnings. The report also expressed concern at the human rights situation, particularly the continued detention without trial of 20 people arrested in December 2002 in connection with a coup attempt. It said UN officials had visited these detainees, but the state prosecutor was unaware that some of them were being held. The authorities had agreed to try these men in criminal courts rather than a court martial in order to bring them to justice more quickly, it added "On the whole, the democratization process in Guinea-Bissau remains fragile," the report concluded. "The country continues to need the support of the international community to complete the transition to constitutional order."