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Gambia denies holding Vieira

    ABIDJAN

    Gambia denied on Wednesday news reports that it was holding former Guinea Bissau president Joao Bernardo Vieira against his will.

    “I expect Mr Vieira to leave on an aircraft for Portugal either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” Gambian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Sedat Jobe told IRIN.

    The Portuguese news agency, Lusa, reported on Tuesday that a relative of Vieira had told it Vieira was “very upset” at not having been allowed to travel on to Portugal.

    Jobe dismissed reports of Vieira’s detention in The Gambia as “nonsense”. The precise timing of Vieira’s departure, Jobe added, depended on how soon Portugal could send a plane. “The ball is in their camp,” he said.

    Portugal’s foreign ministry, he said, had informed his office that Lisbon had granted Vieira asylum. Jobe said that after arriving in Portugal arrangements would probably be made for Vieira to go to a French military hospital in Paris, where he had previously received care.

    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

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