By RFPosted on 28-10-2019Modified on 28-10-2019 at 03:09

The repression, Saturday, October 26, by the police of the event called "pacific" of the opposition increased a little more tensions already very important. In the middle of last week, Prime Minister Aristide Gomes accused an opponent of preparing a coup. Political tensions on the back of accusations of drug trafficking.

There is certainly a return to calm in Bissau after the demonstration on Saturday , but the tension remains at its height in the streets where a major device has been deployed. Elements of the Rapid Intervention Police, armed with Kalashnikovs, are visible on the main arteries, particularly in the administrative district.

Less than a month away from the presidential election, the question of the electoral calendar is the subject of an increasingly intense struggle in the political class. While the international community, led by Cédéao, insists on the respect of the holding of the vote on November 24, the opposition requires as a preliminary transparency in the management of the process, with a complete revision of the electoral register. The ruling party PAIGC refuses this measure alleging that it would result in the postponement of the date of the presidential election.

For the researcher Vincent Foucher, these tensions are explained by the fact that these elections mark the end of a cycle in which emerged a complex system of power sharing. " Since the coup of 2012, we live in a somewhat mixed system where all parties, all actors have access to power, have pieces of the state. At the end of these elections, we could have a consolidation around the PAIGC which is the dominant historical party in the country and thus it provokes the nervousness of all the other actors, who try by different ways to contest, to slow down, to tip the electoral and political process. We have some serious things: the Prime Minister has denounced an attempted coup, we have big drug seizures ... "

Cocaine, diplomatic passports ...

Indeed, these political tensions are doubled by rumors about the involvement of senior figures in the drug trade. At the beginning of September, two tons of cocaine from Colombia had been seized, leading to the arrest of twelve suspects.

Investigations continue and warrants have been issued against the two alleged brains of the operation, but according to several sources close to the case, senior political figures would obstruct. " The judicial police mentioned connections in the political class, in the army, in the security services to this network of traffickers dismantled, " said the researcher.

This affair has uncovered another, this time relating to the trafficking of diplomatic passports found on Colombian traffickers. A source of documents that Prime Minister Aristide Gomes tried to explain without managing to dispel the suspicions of corruption that weigh on the authorities.

    On the same subject

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    Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau discusses coup attempt

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