Global Voices » Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau: International Reactions to the Military Coup

Sara Moreira — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:02:02 +0000

Following the military coup in Guinea-Bissau, on April 12, Angolan Foreign Policy Professor Belarmino Van-Dúnem wrote an analysis [pt] on the roles of the Armed Forces and the international community. ECOWAS talks to restore civilian rule during the weekend resulted on the decision to impose sanctions on the military junta. Former Prime Minister Gomes Junior and Interim President Raimundo Pereira were released on April 27.

Portugal: Video of Guinea-Bissau coup protest in Lisbon

Janet Gunter — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:56:58 +0000

Youtube user MinisterioDaVerdade published a video of a large parade on Saturday by Guinea-Bissaun residents of Lisbon, and their Portuguese families and friends, protesting the military coup which took place April 12. Marchers occupied the streets of Lisbon's Baixa neighborhood. Signs read “We have a consensus: No to dictatorship” and simply “peace.”

Guinea-Bissau: Military Attack Citizens in Demonstration

Sara Moreira — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:26:43 +0000

According to Simão Mendes National Hospital [pt], the military attacked citizens in a demonstration this morning, April 15, in front of the National Parliament of Guinea-Bissau. On Facebook they have posted a picture of a stabbed patient who arrived at the hospital, “before they [the military] come and take our camera and computer, as they did with the journalist [Aly Silva]”.

Guinea-Bissau: Hospital Suffers “Collateral Damages” from Coup d'Etat

João Miguel D. de A. Lima — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 22:06:54 +0000

Simão Mendes National Hospital employees have been posting photos and reports [pt] on their Facebook profile [pt] which illustrate “collateral damages” from the coup d'état that took place on April 12 in Guinea-Bissau. Power cuts, lack of medicine and fuel shortage for ambulances jeopardize the work of doctors, whose moves are limited due to roads being blocked by the military.

Guinea-Bissau: Coup d'Etat and the Angolan Military Mission

Janet Gunter — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:29:13 +0000

At nightfall on Thursday, April 12, 2012, dozens of military personnel took the streets of the capital of Guinea-Bissau, the headquarters of the historic political party in power, PAIGC (Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, or African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde), and the National Radio, starting yet another coup d'etat in a country that since independence in 1974 has never seen an elected president make it to the end of term.

In recent weeks, two events raised the tension levels in the military and political arenas: as Global Voices reported, there were allegations of “generalized fraud” by the opposition in the first round of presidential elections on March 18 (early elections due to the death of President Malam Bacai Sanhá in January 2012) and the announcement of the withdrawal of the Angolan Security Mission in the country, MISSANG.

Headquarters of the presidential candidate Carlos Gomes Junior (PAIGC), also known as Cadogo, during the campaign for presidential elections. Photo by Giuseppe Piazzolla coypright Demotix (12/03/2012)

The armed forces and the quest for arms

News of the military withdrawal [pt] at the beginning of the week had raised alarm about the possibility of a military coup being prepared. Guinean military personnel had taken what is considered a political stance in demanding the reinforcements of Angolan military equipment that MISSANG had received after the failed coup attempt of December 2011 - “if not, they should return it to Angola”.

The spokesman for the Guinean Armed Forces, Daba Na Walna, moreover told journalists [pt] that, two days after polls closed on March 20, the Angolan ambassador in Guinea-Bissau, General Feliciano dos Santos, had accused the General António Indjai, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, of intending to bring about a coup d'etat.

Portuguese journalist Helena Ferro de Gouveia wrote [pt] in her blog Domadora de Camalões about the “formal reasons behind the position the Guinean military men took”, and added:

[com] o afastamento dos militares angolanos, que apesar de inúmeras críticas que lhe podem ser feitas têm sido o garante de alguma estabilidade no país, a Guiné mergulharia numa nova espiral de incerteza.

Voting station for military personnel. Photo by Giuseppe Piazzolla copyright Demotix (15/03/2012)

[with] the distancing of the Angolan military, that in spite of the numerous criticisms that could be made of them have been the guarantee of some kind of stability in the country, Guinea-Bissau would plunge into a new spiral of uncertainty.

On the beginning of the 12, the National Movement of Civil Society for Peace, Democracy and Development (MNSCPDD), had announced [pt] a peaceful march “with the goal of defending the values of democracy, Peace and democracy itself,” exalting “the Armed Forces to remain neutral and non-partisan in relation to the political dispute under way in the country”.

Meanwhile, a few hours later, the coup began.

Reactions on Twitter and blogs

A little before 8pm, journalist António Aly Silva, on his blog Ditadura do Consenso (Dictatorship of Consensus), announced [pt] that “dozens of military personnel have just descended on the residence of candidate Carlos Gomes Jr (out front and out back), and also on the delegation of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) and that there were “many people fleeing, running, through the city of Bissau”. Then the first shots were heard.

On Twitter, the international community did not hesitate to respond. InDepth aggregated a series of tweets and various media sources on a Storify page. A number of people, like Mel Huang (@mel_huang), mentioned the wave of rebellions that have happened in countries near Guinea-Bissau.

George Ayittey (@ayittey), economics professor and author from Ghana, vented:

Look, we are FED UP with these military brutes, bandits, vagabonds and coconut-heads: http://bbc.in/IHyHUv

To which Majaliwa (@majaliwa68), from Tanzania, responded:

yes,in the same countries…it seems they occur repeatedly in same sample of countries NOT across Africa =stereotype!

Aly Silva left an appeal to the international community:

"This is what happened to the back of the residence of Prime Minister and candidate Carlos Gomes Junior". Photo by Aly Silva

Mais de um milhão de guineenses estão reféns de militares…guineenses. Temos sido sacudidos e violentados, usurpam e tolhem-nos os nossos direitos, até o mais básico. Até quando mais a comunidade internacional vai tolerar que gente medíocre - alguma classe política, e militar faça refèm todo um povo? (…)

Nada justifica o levantar das armas, é intolerável o disparo de armas pesadas numa cidade com mais de quatrocentas mil pessoas. É criminoso, acima de tudo. Tiveram tudo para estancar a hemorragia e a orgia de violência. Sabem há muito que este é um país que nasceu, cresceu e vive sob laivos de militarismo.

(…) Não há tiros, nem feridos nas urgências e menos ainda corpos na morgue resultado de mais uma brutalidade da canalha. Não se sabe quem morreu - espero e desejo que ninguém tenha sido morto. Um país é o último, e único, refúgio seguro para o seu povo. Foi traumatizante ver mulheres e crianças a chorar; é triste ver homens e jovens a fugir de homens e jovens como eles.

More than a million Guineans are hostages of military men… Guinean ones. We have been shaken and assaulted, they have usurped and restricted our rights, even the most basic ones. How long will the international community continue to tolerate that mediocre people - some political and military class, keeps a whole people hostage? (…)

Nothing justifies taking up arms, and shooting of heavy weaponry is intolerable in a city of more than 400,000 people. It is criminal, above all else. They had all they needed to stop the bleeding and the orgy of violence. They've known for a long time that this country was born, grew up and lives in the context of militarism.

(…) There is no shooting, no wounded at the emergency room and much less victims at the morgue resulting from yet another rogue brutal act. It is not known who died - I hope and wish that nobody has been killed. The country is the last, and the only, secure refugee for its own people. It was traumatizing to see women and children crying; it is sad to see men and young people running away from men and young people just like them.

Friday 13 morning, the journalist reported that “there are more and more military on the streets, some circulating even in civilian cars. The situation has become tense again, sign that something is not right. Meanwhile, the self-named ‘Military Command' made an (unsigned) statement saying that the revolt was caused by a hypothetical 'secret agreement' between Guinea-Bissau and Angola, by the interim President Raimundo Pereira and the Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr.”

The whereabouts of Carlos Gomes Júnior, winner of the first round of voting for President, and Prime Minister at the time of the death of the former president, are still unknown. The second round of elections is scheduled for April 29, to be disputed with ex-President Kumba Yalá, even though he refuses to participate, having asked for the elections to be annulled and demanded that the National Electoral Commission (CNE) withdraw his name and his photo from the second round ballot in protest against alleged irregularities in the first round.

Brazil: “Kilombos”, Stories of Slaves Bridging Three Continents

Eleanor Staniforth — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:26:29 +0000

A few days after the Brazilian government suspended for five months the reinstatement of ownership requested by the Brazilian Navy of the land of the Quilombo Rio dos Macacos in Bahia - one of the oldest communities of slave descendants in Brazil, inhabited by around 75 families [pt] -, on the other side of the Atlantic, in Lisbon, the international conference “The Passage of the Quilombos: from Africa to Brazil and the return to origins” [pt] was held at the beginning of March. This meeting saw the release of the documentary Kilombos, produced by the Portuguese journalist Paulo Nuno Vicente, and described [pt] by him on the website ‘Buala' as “a rescue film about the Quilombos of Brazil”, which “transports us through the oral history of the African roots of the Quilombo communities, showing the intersection of these roots with contemporary cultural practices”.

O sentido de pertença a uma identidade extravasa a fronteira do medo. Ser quilombola é estar para lá do lugar. Uma imagem perdura para lá do que representa. «Kilombos» é uma tentativa de cartografia antropológica para os antagonismos do Brasil contemporâneo, metonímia oral do globalizante e do ancestral em fluxo.

The sense of belonging to an identity breaks down the barriers put up by fear. Being ‘Quilombola' goes beyond place. An image lasts beyond that which it represents. ‘Kilombos' is an attempt to trace an anthropological cartography of the frictions within contemporary Brazil, that is to say, of globalising forces on the one hand, and ancestral traditions in flux on the other.

31.3% of African slaves were transported to Brazil. Photo by Hollywoodsmille78 on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The documentary, filmed mainly in the Brazilian state of Maranhão, but also in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, forms part of a triannual project[pt] promoted by the Portuguese NGO Instituto Marquês Vale de Flor (IMVF), in partnership with local organisations:

A escolha destes três países reside no seu passado histórico comum. Os navios que transportavam a mão-de-obra escrava vinda da costa africana rumo ao Brasil fazia a sua primeira paragem em Cabo-Verde. Esta rota marítima, que ligou os três territórios há mais de quatro séculos, deixou marcas ainda hoje visíveis. Estes navios não transportavam para o Brasil apenas homens e mulheres africanos, transportavam igualmente tradições, crenças e costumes, ainda hoje respeitados e praticados nos três países.

The choice of these three countries lies in their common historical past. The ships which transported the slave labour force from the African coast to Brazil used to make their first stopover in Cape Verde. This maritime route which linked the three territories more than four centuries ago has left marks which are still visible today. These ships didn't just transport African men and women to Brazil. They also transported traditions, beliefs and customs, which are still respected and practised in our three countries to this day.

Since Cape Verde was populated by Portuguese settlers in the second half of the 15th century, the islands have served as “a turntable for the slave trade between Africa and America”, says José Semedo, from Praia, in an interview [pt] for the documentary ‘Kilombos'. “According to data from that time, half of the African slaves who arrived in Maranhão between 1774 and 1799 were taken from Guinea-Bissau”, notes[pt] Eduardo Mello, from the blog Jovens Diplomatas (Young Diplomats), in a text which gives his impressions on the return of the Quilombolas to their origins in Cacheu three centuries later, funded now by the IMVF project.

Quilombo Santa Joana - interview with João Baptista. Image captured from the documentary Kilombos.

“We witness and suffer the black holocaust”, comments[pt] Mello on the celebration at Cacheu, in which a play was staged depicting the trafficking of slaves in the 17th century, protagonised by descendants of African slaves themselves, the members of Quilombo communities in Maranhão - “in the horror of the ships, about to transform America and Brazil, they sang. They wept”:

Perto da sagrada Floresta de Cobiana, uma multidão celebra o reencontro com os retornados, que a cada frase, receita, som ou expressão, redescobrem origens e destinos. Hoje, a cidade está decorada com instrumentos musicais, artesanato, frutas, e histórias em comum. O cuxá, prato maranhense, é idêntico ao “baguitche” guineense – mas a etnia mandinga sempre chamou de cuxá mesmo. A noite começa a banhar em prata o caudaloso Rio Cacheu. As apresentações das etnias guineenses misturam-se às dos quilombolas brasileiros, à voz de Eneida Marta, e aos discursos. (…) Os grupos cantam, dançam, sobem em árvores, celebram o estranhamento de parentes separados pelos séculos. A matriz é guineense, mas muito mudou: nosso canto não é da e pra terra, é de procissão; o compasso marcado de cada etnia mestiçou-se, no Brasil, com a percussão de inúmeros outros povos do continente africano, no caldeirão dos entrudos (ou “N’tturudu”, como se diz aqui).

Near the sacred Cobiana Forest, a crowd celebrates being reunited with the returnees, who with each phrase, recipe, sound or expression, rediscover origins and destinations. Today, the city is decorated with musical instruments, handicrafts, fruit, and common stories. The ‘cuxá' dish from Maranhão is identical to the Guinean ‘baguitche' - although the Mandinga tribe have always called it ‘cuxá'. Nightfall begins to bathe the fast-flowing River Cacheu in silver light. The performances of the Guineans merge with those of the Brazilian Quilombolas, the voice of Eneida Marta, and the speeches. (…) The groups sing, dance, climb trees, celebrate the strangeness of discovering relatives separated by the centuries. The matrix is Guinean, but a lot has changed: our songs are not for and about the earth, they are processional; the beat kept by each ethnic group has intermixed in Brazil with the percussion of numerous other peoples of the African continent, in the cauldron of the carnival-goers (or “N’tturudu”, as they say here).

“The history of the Quilombos is one of liberty and dignity”

Screenshot of the documentary Kilombos.

As Mello says, “a lot has changed” in the identity of this culture which, in the words [pt] of the producer of ‘Kilombos', “crosses borders and brings continents closer together”. However, and returning to the Quilombo Rio dos Macacos mentioned in the opening paragraph of this article, the current struggle of the Quilombolas has shown that there is also a certain continuity in the violation of the human rights of these communities, such as the right to land. Alan Tygel, from Vírus Planetário [Planetary Virus], draws a historical parallel, and speaks of “modern practices” [pt] which transport us once again on a journey between times and territories:

O sol já vai se pondo, e os escravos aproveitam o fim de tarde na senzala para descansar da jornada extenuante. O trabalho no engenho de cana é duro. Açoitados, acorrentados, longe da terra natal, separados de suas famílias, os negros ainda assim jogam capoeira e cultuam seus orixás. Nesse mesmo dia, houve duas fugas na fazenda: Zé Preto tentou sair por trás das amendoeiras de baixo. Almeida, o capitão-do-mato, não teve muita dificuldade: o negro não tinha mais forças, fugiu por desespero. As chibatadas que levou ali mesmo, no mato, foram suficientes para encerrar seu sofrimento e levá-lo para a outra vida. Gangá não teve a mesma sorte: foi para o tronco, e deve ficar lá por dias. Para todo mundo saber o que acontece com escravo fujão. Num lugar não muito distante dali, cerca de 300 anos depois, a situação não mudou muito. Para os moradores do Quilombo Rio dos Macacos, foi como se a escravidão tivesse acabado e depois voltado. Alguns ainda possuem fotos de seus bisavós vestidos com trapos trabalhando na fazenda. Os mais idosos se lembram do jongo, da capoeira e do samba-de-roda na comunidade. Da época em que eram felizes, na sua roça, com seu pescado, sua dança e sua religião. Há cerca de 30 anos, voltaram a ser cativos.

The sun is now setting, and the slaves make the most of the end of the evening to rest from the day's exhaustion in the slave quarters. Work in the cane mill is hard. Whipped, shackled, far from their homeland, separated from their families, the slaves still practise capoeira and worship their gods. On that same day, two people had escaped from the farm: Zé Preto tried to sneak out behind the lower almond grove. Almeida, the person charged with recapturing escapees, did not have much difficulty in apprehending him: the slave was exhausted, he had fled out of desperation. The lashes which he received right there, in the forest, were sufficient to put an end to his suffering and dispatch him to another life. Gangá was not so lucky: he was sent to the trunk, and had to stay there for several days. So that everybody would know what happens to a slave who tries to escape. In a place not far from there, around 300 years later, the situation is not much changed. For the inhabitants of the Quilombo Rio dos Macacos, it is as if slavery had been abolished only to return once again. Some of them still possess photos of their great-grandparents dressed in rags at work on the farm. The eldest remember the jongo, the capoeira and the Samba de Roda in the community, at a time when they were happy, in their countryside, with their fish, their dancing and their religion. Around 30 years ago, they became captives once again.

A petition [pt] remains in circulation calling for ownership of the Quilombo Rio dos Macacos to remain with the Quilombolas, who have received a guarantee for now that they will not be expelled in the next four months, during which time the Incra (National Institute for Colonisation and Agrarian Reform) [pt] must conclude a Technical Report of Identification and Delimitation with the intention of determining for how long the land has been occupied.

Guinea-Bissau: Constitutional Limits on the Presidential Elections

Maisie Fitzpatrick — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:55:50 +0000

The first round of the presidential elections in Guinea Bissau, brought forward to 18 March following the death of the previous president, Malam Bacai Sanhá, earlier this year, may have featured a number of irregularities [pt] that would undermine the second round of voting, planned for 22 April.

Those contesting the result include Kumba Ialá, former president and leader of the main opposition party, the PRS (Partido da Renovação Social, Social Renewal Party), who received 23.36% of the votes. Ialá is calling [pt] for the ballot to be declared invalid and for voters to be registered afresh, and refusing to participate in the run-off with Carlos Gomes Junior, Prime Minister and candidate for the renowned PAIGC (Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde), which received 48.97% of the vote.

A polling station. Photo by Helena Ferro de Gouveia, on Facebook (used with permission)

A statement delivered by five of the candidates denounces ‘hidden electoral registers, fake voting cards, double voting, fake polling stations and the illegal movement of voters and election material’, as reported [pt] by the Público newspaper.

Sónia Ferreira, from the Forte Apache blog, adds [pt]:

Serifo Nhamadjo [15,75%], Henrique Rosa [5,4%], Serifo Baldé [0,46%] , Afonso Té [1,38%] e Kumba Ialá, alegam ter ocorrido fraude generalizada e actos de corrupção durante as eleições.

Cerca de metade dos guineenses inscritos nos cadernos eleitorais não votaram nas eleições presidenciais, no que constitui a mais alta taxa de abstenção, cerca de 45 por cento, alguma vez vista nas eleições na Guiné-Bissau.

Serifo Nhamadjo [15.75% of the vote], Henrique Rosa [5.4%], Serifo Baldé [0.46%], Afonso Té [1.38%] and Kuma Ialá claim that there has been widespread fraud and corruption during the elections.

Approximately half of Bissau-Guineans on the electoral roll did not vote in the presidential elections, making this the highest rate of abstention ever seen in elections in Guinea-Bissau, at around 45%.

In spite of the apparently unrelated assassination [pt] of the former head of the intelligence service, Colonel Samba Djaló, only a few hours after the polls closed, the presidential elections were praised by Bissau-Guineans and the international community alike for having taken place ‘in an orderly and peaceful manner’.

That is how the Portuguese journalist Helena Ferro de Gouveia, born in Guinea-Bissau and back there to cover the elections for Deutsche Welle, describes [pt] the elections on her blog, Domadora de Camaleões. She also depicts the ‘mess' that followed, surrounding the vote-counting and announcement of the election results:

À medida que iam sendo contados os votos, contagem manual note-se, a informação ia sendo transmitida de forma informal, quer a candidatos, quer a jornalistas, quer a observadores. Na véspera do anúncio dos resultados preliminares, Carlos Gomes Júnior liderava com maioria absoluta, segundo o “boca a boca”. Isto explica a tomada de posição de Kumba Ialá (e de outros quatro candidatos, Henrique Rosa, Serifo Nhamadjo, Serifo Balde e Afonso Té), que acabaria por passar à segunda volta, de “recusar todos os resultados” e pedir a anulação das eleições.

Só que na quarta-feira de manhã [21 de Março], com o apuramento dos votos em falta, Gomes Júnior falharia por uma margem escassa (obteve 49 por cento de votos) a vitória à primeira volta e o controverso Kumba Ialá (23 por cento) como segundo candidato mais votado deveria disputar uma segunda volta. Acontece que Kumba não quer, alegando fraude na primeira volta do escrutínio, e agora procura-se uma solução para o imbróglio.

Candidates, journalists and onlookers were being given unofficial updates as the votes were being counted by hand. On the eve of the announcement of the preliminary results, Carlos Gomes Junior was leading with an absolute majority, according to the word on the street. This explains why Kumba Ialá and the four other candidates, Henrique Rosa, Serifo Nhamadjo, Serifo Balde and Afonso Té, took the stance that they did, urging a new round of voting, rejecting all results and calling for the outcome to be declared invalid.

However, on the morning of Wednesday 21 March, when the missing votes were counted, it was found that Gomes Junior had fallen just short of victory in the first round, with 49% of the vote. As the second-place candidate, the controversial Kumba Ialá, with 23%, might have contested a second round. He chose not to do so, alleging instead that the first ballot was fraudulent, and is now looking for a way out of this muddle.

A constitutional “muddle”

Article 64 of the Constitution of the Republic [pt] of Guinea-Bissau states that the President should be elected by an absolute majority, and that if no candidate obtains an absolute majority in the first round, a new ballot should take place within 21 days, in which only the two candidates with the greatest number of votes should stand.

Early presidential elections, 2012. In the second round Carlos Gomes Junior will stand against Kumba Ialá. Images from the blog Ditadura do Consenso (used with permission).

Ialá’s refusal to participate in the second round of the presidential elections allows for the possibility that the April ballot will take place with a single candidate – Carlos Gomes Junior. Quoting the Guinean lawyer Juliano Fernandes, former Attorney General of Guinea-Bissau and current professor at the Bissau Law Faculty, Helena Ferro de Gouveia says:

Neste caso, o candidato terá de se sujeitar à votação para confirmar ou não a eleição, salientou.”Sendo essa a interpretação, no caso de desistência do outro candidato, o outro (o mais votado) concorre sozinho, ainda que se possa questionar a legitimidade democrática por se ter concorrido sozinho”.

In this case, the candidate would have to be subject to a vote in order to confirm the result of the election. Fernandes adds that, ‘as this is the interpretation of the law, if the other candidate withdraws, the remaining candidate – the one with the most votes – runs alone, even though one might question the democratic legitimacy of such a vote, given that there is only one candidate’.

Fernando Casimiro has conducted a lengthy analysis [pt] on his blog, Didinho, on the constitution and electoral law, calling attention to ‘some matters of paramount importance to be taken into consideration before seeking to terminate a process which may be slow in yielding an outcome’:

O primeiro aspecto a considerar será necessariamente a resposta às reivindicações de um grupo constituído por cinco candidatos (incluindo o segundo mais votado) formalmente apresentadas à Comissão Nacional de Eleições.

O segundo aspecto é, por via do primeiro, o pronunciamento da Comissão Nacional de Eleições sobre as reivindicações apresentadas pelos cinco candidatos contestatários.

Satisfeita ou não as reivindicações, pode haver publicação ou não dos resultados oficiais finais, com a marcação ou adiamento da data da realização da segunda volta.

O adiamento deve ser considerado porque em caso de insatisfação quanto às suas reivindicações e por direito, o grupo de candidatos contestatários pode avançar com a reivindicação para o Supremo Tribunal de Justiça que deverá pronunciar-se sobre o assunto. Tempo a correr, tempo a passar…

Só depois do pronunciamento do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça quanto às reivindicações apresentadas pelo grupo dos cinco candidatos contestatários é que a Comissão Nacional de Eleições poderá anunciar os resultados finais oficiais.

Se depois disso, esgotando-se o processo reivindicativo, com o pedido de anulação do escrutínio feito pelos contestatários, o segundo candidato mais votado decidir formalmente pela desistência ou pela recusa em participar na segunda volta, deve ter-se em atenção a interpretação em relação a desistência e recusa ou rejeição… em função dos motivos, das razões evocadas pelo candidato em questão.

Consideration needs to be given in the first place to providing a response to the demands of the group of five candidates, including the one who received the second highest number of votes, which were formally submitted to the National Electoral Committee.

In conjunction with this, the National Electoral Committee also needs to issue a statement on the demands of the five candidates who have contested the outcome.Whether or not these demands are met, there is also the question of whether the final official results should be made public, along with setting or postponing the date for the second round of voting to be carried out.

Postponement should be considered, as, under law, if their demands have not been met, the group of candidates who are contesting the result may present them to the Supreme Court of Justice, who will rule on the matter. And that all takes time…

Only after the pronouncement by the Supreme Court of Justice on the demands submitted by the group of five candidates contesting the result can the National Electoral Committee announce the official results.

If, after this process has been carried out, and the call for the ballot to be deemed invalid has been made by those contesting the result, the candidate with the second highest number of votes formally decides to withdraw from or refuse to participate in the second round, the interpretation of the law as regards withdrawal or refusal should be applied, in the light of the motives and reasons given by the candidate in question.

Guinea-Bissau: President Passes Away Amidst Political Upheaval

João Miguel D. de A. Lima — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:33:49 +0000

After being hospitalized for almost three months, the President of Guinea-Bissau, Malam Bacai Sanhá, passed away in Paris on Monday, January 9, 2012. He was 64 years and died of diabetes, leaving the small Portuguese-speaking African country in a delicate political situation.

Malam Bacai Sanhá, deceased president of Guinea-Bissau. Photo from António Aly Silva (used with permission).

A familiar political figure in the country, Bacai Sanhá was a member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). He had served as acting president of Guinea-Bissau from 1999 to 2000. He then tried for the presidency twice before winning the presidential elections in 2009.

The government decreed seven days of national mourning during which, the flag will be flown at half-mast. The repatriation of Sanhá's body for burial, is also underway.

The constitution stipulates that an election must take place within 90 days. Meanwhile, the President of the National People's Assembly, Raimundo Pereira, has begun serving as the pre-election, interim president.

Recent upheaval and political tension

On December 26, 2011, the capital city Bissau was the stage of an intense political turmoil. A dissenting section of the military conducted an upheaval, considered a preamble to a coup d'état, as this group had the support of a number of politicians.

Antônio Aly Silva, the most visible face of the Guinea-Bissauan blogosphere, had followed these activities closely on his blog [pt], as they had unfolded throughout the day:

Bissau acordou soalheira, mas estranha. E sobretudo confusa.

Bissau woke up sunny but strange. And above all, confusing.

"Military moving around in Bissau". Photos by Aly Silva, used with permission.

The word “confusing” gives a good idea of the perception of the events that followed the alleged attempt of coup d’état. Military personnel on the streets, sounds of gunshot and the cut on public lighting, built the scene of instability - together with rumors, accusations and arrest warrants.

The population even followed the chase of Major Iaia Dabó, who was said to have willingly turned himself over to the police and was later announced dead [pt]. Dabó was shot in cold blood inside the car [pt] of Deputy Conduto de Pina by the Police of Rapid Intervention. Iaia Dabó's brother, Baciro Dabó, was killed in similar conditions in 2006, involved in another attempt of coup d'état.

Rear Admiral Bubo Na Tchuto was accused of leading the upheavel and was arrested [pt] on December 26, by orders of the Army Chief, Antonio Indjai. They were both involved in recent political events in the country. In August 2008, Bubo Na Tchuto tried to organize a coup, but was pre-empted and arrested. He escaped and later returned to Guinea-Bissau under the protection of the UN.

In 2010 however, military unrest was responsible for the arrest of Bubo Na Tchuto (from inside the UN building) and of the Prime Minister Carlos Gomes. The Army Chief Antonio Indjai conducted the unrest, and said that he would kill the prime minister if his supporters kept on with the demonstrations for his release. President Bacai Sanhá intervened and put an end to the unrest, calling it a confusion between soldiers.

Aly Silva reported the general feeling [pt] that remained in Bissau, after what he called a day of ‘96 hours':

Quase quatro dias depois de uma suposta sublevacao nas casernas, Bissau ainda guarda o medo. O medo desta noite, da noite de amanha e de outra noites. Ha avenidas que ainda sao cortadas a noite, ruas ainda mais escuras. No entanto, as declaracoes parecem unanimes, quer falemos do Governo, quer da classe castrense, quer ainda das organizacoes internacionais: “a situacao esta controlada”. Mas nao, nao esta.

Nearly four days after an alleged uprising in the barracks, Bissau still has fear. The fear of tonight, tomorrow night and other nights. There are still closed avenues at night, even darker streets. However, the statements seem unanimous whether from the Government, the military class or even international organizations: “The situation is controlled.” But no, it isn't.

"Calm returns to Bissau". Photo shared by Léo Diouf (@dioufleo) on Twitter (December 26, 2011).

Providing an outlook [pt] of the aftermath of the upheaval, Aly added:

55 pessoas estao detidas, repartidas por 3 unidades militares e uma civil: Marinha de guerra (29 detidos), base aerea (24 detidos), quartel de Mansoa (1 detido - Bubo Na Tchuto) e Policia Judiciaria (Marcelino Cabral - Djoi). Por este andar, o fim-de-ano sera…una mierda!

55 people are detained, across three military and one civilian units: Navy (29 detainees), air base (24 detainees), barracks Mansoa (1 arrested - Bubo Na Tchuto) and Judicial Police (Marcelino Cabral - Djoi). At this rate, the year-end will be … una mierda (shit)!

He later announced that three soldiers who had been detained in the prison of Marinha da Guerra were released on January 6.

Finally, Aly Silva expressed his worries [pt] with “Bissau under siege”, with many of the avenues and roads closed by the military at night:

O País não está bem, nota-se, ainda que os que mandam tentem mostrar alguma serenidade, e normalidade, no meio do caos que se instalou a 26 de dezembro. Percebe-se. Eu entendo-os. Num País onde a oportunidade tende a ser a mãe de todas as batalhas - desgraças - um descuido, um limpar de espingarda pode ser a morte do artista…

The country is not well, you can tell; even if the ones who rule try to show some composure and normality amid the chaos that was installed on December 26, it can be sensed. I understand them. In a country where the opportunity is likely to be the mother of all battles - misfortunes - an oversight, cleaning the shotgun can be the death of an artist…

Sara Moreira collaborated on this post.

Online Highlights from the Portuguese-Speaking World in 2011

Maisie Fitzpatrick — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:11:32 +0000

2011 has been another year in which bloggers and activists from a number of Portuguese-speaking countries have come together to report, translate and promote blogs and citizen media from all over the world. This article selects the highlights in the coverage of Lusophone countries on Global Voices over the last year.

Portuguese language and culture

In February we covered several blogs that gave voice to their love of the Portuguese language, paying tribute to the great variety of dialects spoken by more than 200 million people worldwide.

Hau nia lian, hau nia rain (My language, my country). Photo by Sapo Noticias Timor Leste (public domain)

In May the newspaper @Verdade, our partner in Mozambique, described Portuguese as a language that is bound up in what it means to be Mozambican.

In its coverage of Timor Leste, Global Voices examined the role of languages in asserting the identity of a country which has 16 national languages and dozens of dialects. Some blogs on Cape Verde also suggested that there are “distinct social functions” for both the language spoken by the people, Crioulo, and the official language, Portuguese.

Online demonstrations brought a more political dimension to bear on this issue, with heated reactions to the proposal for Equatorial Guinea to become a member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, despite having a poor track record on human rights.

Brazil: Paths towards Development

In spite of the current global crisis, Brazil is experiencing a period of economic optimism fuelled by domestic consumption. In order to maintain this growth, ongoing development policy in the country has been putting pressure on the environment and human rights.

The social cost of the rising demand for biofuels: the indigenous Guarani Kaoiwa community of Laranjeira Nhanderu were expelled from their lands 14 months ago to make way for sugarcane plantations. Photo by Annabel Symington, copyright Demotix (10/21/10).

The Amazon rainforest is seen as potential land for agriculture and as a source of raw materials and energy. Brazil's new forestry code, which regulates the use of the country's forests, has led to concerns and public demonstrations against the encouragement of farming and deforestation. “Green” agribusiness focused on biofuels and the replacement of felled trees with eucalyptus plantations have been shown to be unsustainable practices in both social and environmental terms. The dispute for land provoked by agribusiness led to the killing of activists and indigenous leaders during 2011. Yet Brazil is persisting in exporting its agribusiness model to other countries, such as Mozambique, regardless.

Coverage of events surrounding the Belo Monte Dam certainly caused the greatest outcry this year, uniting environmentalists, indigenous people and Brazilians living alongside the affected rivers. Protests in the immediate area of the dam and in major cities attracted international attention and challenged the human rights policy of Dilma Rousseff's government. This action did not wane after construction of the plant began, but rather took on different forms, including an Occupy protest by the Tupiniquim people and court cases.

These and related issues have been organised into four special features: Forest Focus: Amazon, Dossiê Belo Monte [only in pt], Indigenous Rights and Global Development.

Portugal: Crisis, Austerity and Protests

From the “Scraping-by Generation” protest in March to participation in the global protests on 15 October, Portugal has seen its political and economic crisis reach unprecedented proportions in 2011, with the fall of a government and the EU committee coming into the country to effect the financial “rescue” of public debt.

Keep calm and protest: outraged protesters outside Porto Town Hall. Photo by the protest organisers, 15 October.

Netizens took to social networks to mobilise action against severe austerity measures and to speak out in opposition to the racket conducted by the rating agencies, but also to gain inspiration from other countries, such as Iceland, on other forms of public participation.

Having launched a page devoted to special coverage of the current situation, Europe in Crisis, in September, Global Voices has acted as a bridge between different languages and has facilitated greater dialogue between outraged citizens from European countries that are suffering similar problems.

Angola: 32 Years in Power sparks Protests

In Angola the sense of revolt against the 32-year government led by José Eduardo dos Santos is becoming increasingly palpable in the streets and on the internet. Protests would have begun in March had the government not been successful in pre-empting them.

In September the police used heavy force to break up a protest, resulting in at least 18 protesters receiving prison sentences. Against all expectations, the movement has regrouped, while the number of citizen reporters in the country is also on the increase.

Video uploaded to the post Angola: Videos of Repressed Youth Protest in Luanda

Internet and the digital culture in Brazil

The fruits of increasingly widespread access to the internet in Brazil were borne out in 2011 by many creative, collective and effective examples of action. One such case was the mobilisation of social networks to take down a paedophile blog, and the call put out on Facebook to join in the unique “Different People's Big Barbeque Protest” in an upscale São Paulo neighbourhood.

Protest poster which reads "We want to be Maria Bethania", organised by Leon Prado on Facebook.

The online arena has also been the scene for a number of less auspicious episodes related to digital culture. In January the Ministry of Culture announced that it was abandoning Creative Commons licensing on its site, a blatant step backwards in public policy on the internet and copyright. Shortly afterwards, in March, the same ministry allowed the famous signer Maria Bethânia to raise 1.3 million reais tax-free for the creation of a poetry blog, thereby rousing the ire of bloggers, the twitterati and activists involved in the cultural sphere.

Cases of online censorship continue to crop up and, on occasion, overflow into the non-virtual world, with attacks on bloggers who are critical of the authorities.

In December we became aware of renewed death threats made against Ricardo Gama, who blogs against cases of the abuse of power and other irregularities by the Brazilian police. Gama had already been shot in an attack in Rio de Janeiro in March. Towards the end of this year, many were not convinced by the reason of “suicide by hanging” given for the death of Hamilton Alexandre, a controversial blogger from Santa Catarina, and social networks are being used to call for a thorough investigation of the case.

In 2012 we will continue to listen to the stories that are being told by the citizens of the world through the internet, and to amplify them so that they reach a global audience. Our doors are always open to anyone who wants to get involved in what Super magazine earlier this year dubbed “one of the 10 coolest projects on the internet”.

http://pt.globalvoicesonline.org/?p=25165

João Miguel Lima collaborated on this post.

Lusophone Heritage of “Portugality” Around the World

Sara Moreira — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:50:21 +0000

A Facebook group and a mapping website called “Portugality” have been created to explore the cultures that result from the “global cultural fusion started by Portuguese navigations of the XVth. century and lasting to this day in places like Brazil, Mozambique, East Timor or Malacca”.

Guinea-Bissau: Community Radio Launches a New Blog

Sara Moreira — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:09:31 +0000

The community radio Voz de Queléle (Voice of Quelélé) [pt], from the Quelélé neighborhood in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, launched a new blog in October 2011. The radio was created in 1994 and has played an important role especially in providing public health information to the community.

Brazil: Protest Condemns Violent Death of African Student

Sara Moreira — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 11:31:00 +0000

All links lead to Portuguese language pages.

Around 100 people gathered in Cuiabá, the capital of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, on September 23, 2011, to protest against violence and call for justice in the wake of the murder of Toni Bernardo da Silva, a 27 year old Economic Science student from Guinea-Bissau on Thursday, September 22.

The protest, which took place in front of the pizzeria where Toni was beaten to death, was organised by a group of African students who are part of an exchange program between the Brazilian government and lusophone countries in Africa. Toni was a a student at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT).

Toni Bernando. Photo from personnal archive.

Vicious attack

According to the civil police, the former student arrived at the restaurant around 11pm and started asking clients for money. While passing one of the tables, Toni bumped into a woman.

The woman's boyfriend, a 27 year old business man, and two military policeman who were in plainclothes at the site, forcibly removed the university student from the establishment and began to attack him with punches and kicks. The medical report indicates that death was caused by disruption of the trachea, caused by a sharp blow by a person who practices martial arts.

The suspects were charged in the act and will respond in court for the crime of murder. In a statement, they said that they had only immobilised the youngster.

Community outrage

The crime has caused outrage among the academic community, which is demanding justice and greater security for the students. In 2010, Global Voices reported [en] on another case of aggression against a student from Guinea Bissau.

Photo of protest, by Deivison Almeida (used with permission).

UFMT released a message regretting the incident and contacted the Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs, who coordinate the exchange program, as well as the Federal Police.

Toni was a fellow at the university and should have been graduating later this year in the course that he began in 2006. However, according to a spokesperson of the institution, he had abandoned the course:

Em 2010, a Pró-Reitoria de Ensino de Graduação apoiou o então aluno e tentou auxiliá-lo para resolução de seus problemas acadêmicos e pessoais, que geraram o abandono dos estudos e a reprovação. Foi prestada assistência e oferecido acompanhamento psicológico ao estudante, por meio da Coordenação de Assistência e Benefícios (Cabes), sem a sua adesão satisfatória. Consequentemente, o desligamento ocorreu em fevereiro de 2011, conforme as exigências estabelecidas pelo Convênio PEC-G/MEC/MRE, entre as quais o abandono dos estudos e a reprovação.

In 2010, the Dean of Undergraduate Studies supported the student and then tried to help him to solve his personal and academic problems that had led to the abandonment of his studies and eventual dropout from the course. Assistance and counselling was offered to the student, through the Coordination of Assistance and Benefits without satisfactory accession. Consequently, the “shutdown” occurred in February 2011, according to the requirements established by PEC-G/MEC/MRE Agreement, which include the course drop-out.

According to student Catende Malan Domingos, 23, who is also part of the international exchange program, Toni had abandoned his studies due to discouragement or to some diesase. On the other hand the police state that he was a drug addict and had a record of theft. Since February 2011 his family had been sending him money to survive on while he was looking for a job. He has left a Brazilian girlfriend who is pregnant.

“The biggest threat is the silence”

The journalism student Adoniram Magalhães, on his blog Jornalismo Liberto, has written an analysis that sums up the way the case was covered by the local media:

Students light candles in mourning for Toni. Photo by Deivison Almeida (used with permission).

(…) alguns veículos publicaram e ainda publicam o fato de uma forma estranha, parecem até que estão procurando justificativa para o fato, desvirtuando o foco da morte de um ser humano que poderia ser brasileiro, africano ou iraquiano.

some [media] vehicles have published and are still publishing the fact in a weird way, it looks as if they are trying to find a way to justify the fact, distorting the focus of the death of a human being who could be Brazilian, African or Iraqi.

The photographer Lucas Ninno, on his blog, has published an audio interview with a Cape Verdean student in Cuiabá, a friend of Toni's, telling a “version that the media doesn't show” about the case:

An email in circulation that talks about the climate of fear that has been instilled amongst African students at UFMT, for whom “the biggest threat is the silence” asks:

que a Universidade (UFMT) [tome] alguma atitude no sentido de os representar, bem como ao jovem assassinado, pressionando a justiça brasileira a não permitir que o caso [seja] (mais uma vez) abafado e que os culpados recebesse a punição merecida. Fizeram uma passeata a pedir Paz. A polícia não deve estar confortável com esta atitude. Há indícios de que a polícia esteja a tentar silenciar as testemunhas e a fazer contra-informação. A polícia ronda o bairro escuro e pobre onde a maioria destes estudantes moram. Por alguma razão estes jovens não se estão a sentir mais seguros com isso.

the University (UFMT) [needs to take] some attitude towards the representing them as well as the murdered boy, pressing the Brazilian justice system not to allow the case [to be] (once again) muffled and the guilty to receive the deserved punishment. They marched to ask for peace. The police should not be comfortable with this attitude. There is evidence that the police are trying to silence the witnesses and make counter-intelligence. Police round the black and poor neighbourhoods where most of these students live. For some reason these young people don't feel safer with it.

Friends and university colleagues of Toni have put candles in front of the crime site. Photo by Lucas Ninno (used with permission).

And finalises:

Se ninguém mais no mundo souber do que se está a passar ali o que será que lhes pode acontecer mais? O medo instalou-se. A História conta-nos que o medo é inimigo da razão, da sensatez. Quantos não são os casos de escaladas de violência nas ruas que começaram exactamente assim?

If no one else in the world knows what is happening there, what more can happen to them? Fear has settled. History tells us that fear is the enemy of reason, of prudence. How many cases of street violence have begun exactly like this?

The Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio de Aguiar Patriota personally presented his apologies to Ambassador Queta, Chancellor and future Minister of Justice of Guinea-Bissau, on behalf of the Brazilian government for the violence committed against the youngster.

The heads of state are in New York because of the 66th annual meeting of the United Nations.

Guinea-Bissau: Celebrating Independence with a Tribute to Aristides Pereira

Sara Moreira — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 09:08:52 +0000

On the 38th anniversary of PAIGC's (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) declaration of independence of Guinea Bissau, many bloggers are paying tribute to the leader of the struggle at that time, Aristides Pereira [pt], who later became the first President of Cape Verde. Pereira died two days ago, on September 22.

Mozambique: Sant'Egidio Community Fights Back Against HIV/AIDS

Lova Rakotomalala — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:58:28 +0000

Lack of access to care for HIV positive people has been well documented on the African continent. Many initiatives strive to show that things could improve with collective effort, and among them is the Drug Resource Enhancement against AIDS and Malnutrition (DREAM) program.

DREAM was created in 2002 by the Sant'Egidio Community in Mozambique, and takes a comprehensive approach to fighting HIV/AIDS. Cristina Cannelli, leader of the Guinea DREAM program, explains the special relationship [it] with the African continent, especially Mozambique:

"Free care here". Image by Sant'Egidio photo service.

La Comunità di Sant'Egidio è profondamente legata all'Africa, anche perchè la Comunità stessa è una realtà africana. Esistono Comunità di Sant'Egidio in 26 paesi del continente con più di 20.000 membri africani. Un legame particolare con il Mozambico, dove nel 1992 fu firmata la pace che pose termine ad una terribile guerra civile grazie alla mediazione della Comunità, condusse a scegliere il Mozambico qualeprimo paese in cui lanciare il programma DREAM.

The Sant'Egidio community is deeply linked to Africa, in part because the community itself is anchored on the continent. The community is present in 26 African nations and has more than 20,000 members. A special relationship exists with Mozambique because in 1992, the Sant’Egidio community contributed to the peace treaty agreement that ended the civil war. That's why Mozambique was the first choice for implementing the DREAM program.

Today DREAM is present in Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Guinea (Conakry), Guinea (Bissau), Nigeria, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon. The basic philosophy of the program is:

… DREAM has been created to achieve excellence: excellence in treatment and diagnostics, in computerization. DREAM demands that western standards be adopted in Africa too; the programme routinely uses viral load assessment, and has introduced Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART)

A DREAM success

The sheer numbers of the DREAM activity throughout the continent are impressive: 150,000 people have been treated of which 25,000 were aged 15 years or younger, 65,000 patients have benefited from anti-retroviral therapy of which 6,000 were children. DREAM also successfully interrupted vertical mother-to-child HIV transmission for 14,000 births from HIV positive mothers.

Since the beginning of the program more than 1,000,000 people have benefited from the DREAM program via health education, water filtration, food supplies, mosquito nets, prevention programmes on television, radio and the workplace. In total, the DREAM centers have performed 1,300,000 medical consultations, 276,000 viral load tests and 540,000 CD4 tests.

Celebrating the good health of the children at the mother-to-child HIV transmission prevention centers. Image courtesy of the Sant'Egidio community.

For such a large organisation to run properly in so many countries with many different spoken languages, qualified personnel is a must, which is why the community has organized 18 workshops throughout the continent for 4,000 health professionals. Mobile teams travel to reach the most isolated patients.

In order to engage the local institutions, DREAM states that:

Some of these structures are operational thanks to collaboration and agreements reached with local health centres that have replicated the programme.

However, patients also are actively contributing by committing to actively fight the HIV pandemic by becoming volunteers:

In each and every DREAM centre, medical and paramedical personnel are flanked by local men and women who have decided to commit themselves to working for patients who come to our centres. They decided to do so when their own lives were remarkably transformed after they came in contact with our services.
There are relatively large groups of such people and they constitute an indispensable resource for the success of the programme. Most, but not all, of them are sick. They are our “campaigners”.

Guinea-Bissau: Unique Footage from 1969-74

Sara Moreira — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:55:57 +0000

Pierre Fargeas, a former aircraft technician from France, shared a unique film footage of daily life in Guinea Bissau from 1969-74 on Youtube.