UN funds payment of arrears to army mutineers

The United Nations has provided the government of Guinea-Bissau with US$2.2 million to pay salary arrears owed to mutinous soldiers who killed the head of the armed forces earlier this month, government officials said on Monday. Meanwhile, President Henrique Rosa has hinted that he will agree to the mutineers' demands that he appoint General Tagme Na Wai, as chief of staff of the armed forces to replace General Verissimo Seabra Correia, who was shot dead by the insurgents three weeks ago. Portugal, the former colonial power in Guinea-Bissau, said last week it had sent a frigate to the area to stand by to evacuate the 500 Portuguese residents in the small West African country in the event of further trouble. The 650 soldiers who staged a mutiny on 6 October to demand pay arrears due to them for their service with the UN peacekeeping force in Liberia, began receiving their backpay on Saturday. Officials said the UN funds would cover four of the five months of pay arrears which they were owed. Military sources said the soldiers would receive special pay of US$1,028 for each month served with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) - a fortune compared to their normal wage of 19,000 CFA francs ($35) per month. President Rosa told reporters last Thursday that the mutineers had asked him to name Na Wai as the new chief of staff of the armed forces, since he was the only figure of authority who was trusted by the army. And Rosa hinted as he left for a visit to Cote d'Ivoire on Sunday that this controversial nomination would be accepted. "The most important thing here is not names, but having capable people who can guarantee the peace and stability of Guinea-Bissau," he said. The president, who is overseeing Guinea-Bissau's transition back to democracy after a bloodless coup in September 2003, said he would formally announce the name of the new head of the armed forces, along with the names of new chiefs for the army, navy and air force on his return from Cote d'Ivoire on Wednesday. The army mutineers, who do not have a publicly acknowledged leader, have repeatedly denied suggestions they were planning a coup. They said they simply wanted to bring attention to their pay arrears, poor living conditions and rampant corruption in the military high command. However, they have killed the head of the armed forces and one other senior officer and have forced all the other top military commanders to flee for their lives. The mutineers are now pushing for candidates of their own choice to assume control of the armed forces and diplomats fear they could still destabilise the recently elected government of Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and his ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). Like many senior officers in the armed forces of Guinea-Bissau, General Na Wai is a former guerrilla fighter with very little formal education who took part in the war against Portuguese colonial rule from 1963 to 1974. And like 90 percent of military personnel in Guinea-Bissau, he belongs to the influential Balanta ethnic group. This accounts for one third of the country's 1.3 million population and provides the backbone of support for the opposition Social Renovation Party (PRS). Na Wai's assassinated predecessor, Correia Seabra, belonged to the minority Papel tribe. Although Na Wai does not speak Portuguese, the official language of Guinea-Bissau, he is likely to be a popular choice in neighbouring Senegal, since he led a campaign to flush out bases of the armed separatist group, the Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance (MFDC), within Guinea-Bissau in 2001. President Rosa said he had passed on the mutineers' recommendation of Na Wai to the prime minister, who had in turn submitted to Rosa his own list of prefered candidates for the vacant posts in the military high command. Military sources said the mutineers wanted Brigadier General Armando Gomes to be made chief of staff of the army. He was deputy chief of staff before the mutiny erupted three weeks ago. The mutineers also wanted Commander Bo Natchoto, the head of the marine commando unit, to be named chief of staff of the navy, they added. Like Na Wai, both are veterans of the armed struggle against Portuguese colonial rule, with little in the way of formal education. The mutineers' choice of air force chief, however, is a trained pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Armando Gomes. However, the air force no longer has any airworthy planes. Its handful of Mig 21 fighters are all grounded for lack of spares and its sole helicopter has not flown for three years. Guinea-Bissau's present government came to power after parliamentary elections in March. The PAIGC emerged as the largest party, but it lacks an outright majority in parliament. A new president is due to be elected in March 2005. Rosa was chosen as transitional head of state by the armed forces and the country's main political parties following last year's coup, which deposed former president Kumba Yala, the founder of the PRS, which is now in opposition.