Guinea-Bissau

Abstract

Portugal was the major power in the area throughout the colonial period. In 1974, after the Portuguese revolution, Portugal abandoned the struggle to keep Guinea-Bissau and independence was formally recognized on 10 Sept. 1974. In 1975 Cape Verde also became independent but the two countries remained separate sovereign states. On 14 Nov. 1980 a coup d’état was in part inspired by resentment in Guinea-Bissau over the privileges enjoyed by Cape Verdians. Guineans obtained a more prominent role under the new government. In May 1984 a new constitution was approved based on Marxist principles but after 1986 there was a return to private enterprise in an attempt to solve critical economic problems and to lift the country out of poverty. A year-long civil war broke out in 1998 between army rebels and the country’s long-time ruler. Neighbouring Senegal and Guinea sent troops in to aid the government. In May 1999 President João Bernardo Vieira was ousted in a military coup led by former chief of staff Gen. Ansumane Mané, whom the president had dismissed in 1998. Following the coup Mané briefly headed a military junta before National Assembly speaker Malam Bacaï Sanhá took power as acting president. After presidential elections in Nov. 1999 and Jan. 2000 Kumba Ialá gained the presidency in a landslide victory. Marking a change towards a democratic future in Guinea-Bissau’s politics, Ialá rejected a demand made by the outgoing junta for special consultative status following the elections. Kumba Ialá was overthrown in a coup in Sept. 2003 led by army chief of staff Gen. Veríssimo Correia Seabra. Vieira returned from exile to win the 2005 presidential election but was murdered in March 2009 by a group of soldiers following the assassination of his rival Batista Tagme Na Waie, the Army Chief of Staff. Malam Bacaï Sanhá became president in July 2009. In July and Aug. 2011 Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Júnior survived popular calls for his resignation amid spiralling food prices. In Jan. 2012 Sanhá died after a long illness. After the first round of polls two months later to find a successor, the military staged a coup, installing Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo as head of a transitional government until June 2014, when the country was returned to civilian rule following the election of José Mário Vaz as president. The political volatility characterizing Vaz’s five-year term of office continued following disputed presidential elections in late 2019 that returned Umaro Sissoco Embaló, a former prime minister, amid ongoing opposition dissent.