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Vieira to stand trial

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This most recent round of armed hostilities followed the weekend theft and destruction of some 300,000 doses of various vaccines
    BUNIA

    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.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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