UN sees new hope after coup

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on the international community to heed Guinea-Bissau's appeals for assistance as its broad-based transitional government attempts to rebuild the economy and move towards democracy following a coup in September. In his latest report on Guinea-Bissau to the UN Security Council, Annan offered a largely positive view of events in the small West African country since former president Kumba Yala was toppled by a bloodless coup after leading his government into bankruptcy and chaos. Annan stopped short of directly endorsing the overthrow of the elected but much-criticised leader. But he noted that his removal, "however, reprehensible, should not be seen as a single event interrupting an ongoing democratic process, but as the culmination of an untenable situation during which constitutional norms were repeatedly violated". Previous UN reports on Guinea-Bissau strongly criticised Kumba Yala's human rights record, his handling of ministers and his management of the economy. They warned that the former Portuguese colony could relapse into conflict if its serious problems were not resolved. Annan urged the international community "to consider how to deal preventively with post-conflict situations, where governments, although democratically elected, defy constitutional order, flout basic practices of governance and thus become an added source of instability". He noted with approval the transitional government's achievements over the past three months: the reinstatement of Supreme Court judges previously barred and arrested, the international contacts pursued by President Henrique Pereira Rosa, the pledges to pay civil service salary arrears and promote transparency and sound financial management, and the commitment to hold legislative elections in March 2004. But there were also caveats. Annan refered to "reported tensions among the army rank and file over the longstanding backlog of salary arrears and poor conditions in the barracks", even though the military leadership had tried to break down factionalism and build army unity. There was concern too about the economic legacy of the new administration. Poor fiscal management and shambolic accounting in the past had left the current government starved of cash. Annan said that as a result "the social and economic situation remains of grave concern, threatening to disrupt the current fragile political consensus". The World Bank, IMF and other donors have helped the government draw up a seven-month emergency economic management plan for December 2003 through to June 2004. This will be put to a round-table meeting of donors in January.