Bill on National Security Council

The government has tabled in parliament a bill proposing the creation of a National Security Council, PANA reported. Members of the council will include leading members of the self-styled “Military Junta”, among them General Ansumane Mane who overthrew President Joao Bernardo Vieira in 1999. Under the bill, members of the council will enjoy the same privileges as ministers until the end of President Kumba Yala’s five-year term of office, PANA said on Tuesday. “If adopted, the bill would take a thorn out of the government’s flesh, by solving the problem of the military junta which has shown inclinations of wanting to cling to power,” PANA said.