Constitutional crisis

Guinea-Bissau's Bar Association has filed suit against President Kumba Yala for appointing three judges to the Supreme Court. The association has described the appointment of the three, who replace judges sacked this month by Yala, as unconstitutional.

The newly appointed judges had been dismissed by President Nino Vieira in 1993, at a time when the country's constitution allowed this. Yala reinstated them last week. However, under a new constitution approved in 1999, Supreme Court judges must be appointed by a Higher Council of Magistrates, while the role of the president is limited to swearing them in, sources close to the legal profession told IRIN on Tuesday.

The suit comes amid signs of a growing crisis in Guinea-Bissau. Political parties are said to have split into pro- and anti-Yala factions. There have been reports that the cabinet, made up of individuals from various parties, is not fully behind the president. In fact, Yala threatened on Monday to sack Prime Minister Faustino Imbali unless he clarified the disappearance of US $15 million that vanished from the state's coffers earlier this year.

The sources told IRIN that legislators were pressing for an extraordinary session of parliament to discuss what they see as systematic violations of the constitution by the president. However, it was unclear whether such a session would be held.