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Ousted president arrives in Portugal

    ABIDJAN

    Ousted Guinea Bissau president Joao Bernando Vieira arrived in the northern Portuguese town of Oporto on Friday on the second leg of a trip that will allow him an opportunity to get medical care in France, news reports said.

    Vieira left The Gambia on Thursday aboard a Portuguese military plane accompanied by the Portuguese ambassador to Guinea Bissau, Antonio Dias. Vieira had been in The Gambia since Sunday, where he arrived after seeking refuge in the Portuguese Embassy in Guinea Bissau after an army revolt forced him from power on 7 May.

    The condition set by Guinea Bissau’s Military Junta for allowing Vieira to leave the country for medical treatment was that he return and be tried for crimes against the state.

    A Gambian Foreign Ministry official told IRIN on Friday that Vieira was expected to return to Guinea Bissau after “feeling better”.

    The French Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Vieira was welcome in France to continue his medical care at the Val de Grace Hospital in Paris.

    The Resistencia da Guine-Bissau- Movimento Ba- Fata (RGB-MB), a political party, said Vieira’s departure would enable him to lobby the international community to pressure the government in Bissau by curtailing development aid.

    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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