Guinean and Senegalese troops to leave by end February

Senegal’s Interior Minister Lamime Cisse said today troops from his country and from Guinea would leave Guinea Bissau, at the latest, on 28 February, Reuters reported. Earlier this week, news reports said, 1,200 of the estimated 3,000 troops would begin leaving on Sunday. Their departure has been a key demand by the Military Junta for swearing in the government of national unity. The departure is also an essential provision of the Abuja accords signed in November 1998 that officially ended a five-month military uprising in the country. Cisse said he was in Banjul to brief Gambian President Yahya Jammeh on the security situation in Bissau and informed him that Senegalese troops would leave as agreed. Benin, Gambia, Niger and Togo have troops under ECOMOG in Guinea Bissau. Their arrival is expected to ease the way for the withdrawal of the Guineans and Senegalese.