15 JAN 99 - 13:07

Guinea-Bissau: Rebels Reiterate Government to Take Office Only After Foreign Troops Depart

Bissau, Jan. 15 (Lusa) - Representatives of Guinea-Bissau's rebel Military Junta reaffirmed Thursday that the country's "national unity" government would only take office after the complete withdrawal of foreign troops backing President Nino Vieira. The rebel statement came after two Junta officials witnessed the embarcation at Bissau harbor of the first contingent of 200 Senegalese soldiers to be repatriated.

"It is an accepted principle that the designated government will not take office until the last foreign soldier is out of here," said Silvestre Alves, the Junta's nominee as public works minister. Silvestre, who was accompanied by Junta spokesman Comd. Zamora Induta, estimated that there were some 2,500 Senegalese troops and 500 from Guinea-Conakry in the country.

The positions held by the withdrawing Senegalese along the cease-fire line in Bissau were taken over by Togolese soldiers, the first contingent of a planned West African ECOMOG peace-keeping force.

The composition of the new post-war cabinet, formed jointly by Vieira and the Military Junta, was announced earlier this week.

15 JAN 99 - 13:08

Guinea-Bissau: Opposition Leader Demands President Vieira's Resignation

Braga, Portugal, Jan. 15 (Lusa) - The leader of Guinea-Bissau's main opposition party called Thursday for the immediate resignation of President Nino Vieira as an "indispensable condition for peace."

Speaking to journalists in this northern Portuguese city, Domingos Fernandes Gomes, president of the Bafata Movement, also said his people would not allow the appearance of "a new dictator," following the five-month military mutiny, which ended with a Nov. 2 peace accord.

He said the rebel leader, Brig. Ansumane Mane, had "no political ambitions," and that the mutinous armed forces would "return to their barracks as soon as peace is secured."

Gomes was skeptical that presidential and legislative elections could be organized by March, as called for under the peace agreement, forecasting that the balloting would rather take place in mid-year.

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