Vieira to stand trial

Guinea Bissau's deposed ruler, Joao Bernardo Vieira, will stand trial for treason in a local court, the country's new rulers, the Military Junta and opposition parties decided on Thursday. No date has been set for the trial. News reports, quoting opposition figure Amile Saad, said Vieira faced charges of acting without parliamentary approval in getting Guinean and Senegalese troops to shore up his government against a 11-month military rebellion. "He committed a treasonable offence," Saad, secretary-general of the Union for Change party, told reporters after the meeting. Vieira is also accused of failing to stop arms smuggling, allegedly by some of his senior army officers, to rebels in Senegal's troubled Casamance area, the reports said. The decision to try Vieira followed a week of uncertainty within the opposition block, with some preferring that he leave for exile. Vieira, granted asylum by Lisbon, is still in the Portuguese Embassy in Bissau. An impasse still exits between Lisbon and Bissau over his custody.