BISSAU (Reuters) – Guinea-Bissau’s interim government accused Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries of being behind an assault on an air force base, saying it was part of a strategy to return to power the West African nation’s exiled former prime minister.
The military of the tiny coup-prone former Portuguese colony repelled the attack near the capital Bissau early on Sunday during a two-hour gun battle that killed six people.
“The attack … is part of the strategy to bring (ex-prime minister) Carlos Gomes Junior back to Guinea-Bissau, even at the cost of human lives,” government spokesman Fernando Vaz said in a statement read on state radio on Sunday night.
“The tone of the speeches given by Portugal, the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) and Carlos Gomes Junior was the precursor to the attack,” he said.
Guinea-Bissau, a transit hub for Latin American cocaine smuggled to Europe, is in the throes of a ragged recovery after the army overthrew the government in April just weeks before a second round presidential vote Gomes Junior was favoured to win.
The junta said Gomes Junior had a secret pact with Angola, which had soldiers deployed in Bissau at the time, to eliminate the military’s leadership
