Donors to firm up aid pledges after 2005 presidential election

International donors have pledged new money to help reform Guinea-Bissau's armed forces and guarantee the payment of civil service salaries during the run-up to presidential elections due in May, Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior said. But most of those attending a round table donor conference in Lisbon last Friday said they would wait to see the outcome of the presidential election before firming up other pledges to help the government cover an expected 42 billion CFA franc (US$84 million) budget deficit this year, he told reporters on Saturday. A second donor's conference will be held in Portugal, the former colonial ruler of Guinea-Bissau, during the second half of this year, the prime minister added. The government is expected to announce shortly the date of the presidential election. This will complete the West African country's return to democracy following a bloodless coup in September 2003 which removed the former president Kumba Yala . Parliamentary elections were held in March last year, which led to the present government, headed by Gomes Junior, taking power two months later. The presidential election will choose a successor to Henrique Rosa, the transitional head of state chosen by the armed forces and Guinea-Bissau's main political parties following Yala's overthrow 17 months ago. Gomes Junior said 25 countries and organisations had attended last week's donor conference in Lisbon, including Portugal, France, the United States, the Netherlands, Brazil, the European Union, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and African Development Bank. Guinea-Bissau was represented by Finance Minister Joao Aladje Mamadu Fadia. The prime minister said Portugal had pledged a further one million euros ($1.3 million) to help restructure the ill-equipped and poorly paid army, which continues to be a source of instability in Guinea-Bissau, while Brazil had pledged 500,000 euros ($650,000) to the same end. General Verissimo Correia Seabra, the former chief of staff of the armed forces, was killed during a military uprising in October 2004. The mutiny was sparked off by the government's failure to pay salary arrears to soldiers who had served with the UN peacekeeping force in Liberia. However, no-one has been arrested in connection with Correia Seabra's murder, which resulted in the mutineers choosing a new military high command and imposing their nominees on the government. Gomes Junior said donors also promised at Lisbon to guarantee the regular payment of government employees until after the presidential election. This would be done through contributions to a special emergency fund set up by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), he added. However, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, told reporters in Lisbon after the donor conference that the EU would only release 10 million euros (US$13 million) of frozen European aid to Guinea-Bissau after the presidential election.