President of Guinea-Bissau assasinated

Guineau-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira was reportedly assassinated on Monday. There are reports that the military may have carried out the assassination in retaliation for the bombing death of General Batista Tagme Na Wai, the chief of the army, on Sunday.

There is also speculation that Columbian drug cartels may be involved in all of this. Regardless, it is a mess that has it's African neighbors' worried about instability spreading in a region which also recently witnessed a coup in neighboring Guinea.

Hopefully, something good can come of this. You have to be a real diehard optimist to honestly think so though.

Update

State Department spokesperson Robert Wood issued the following statement this afternoon:

The U.S. strongly condemns the violence that occurred in Guinea-Bissau over the weekend that resulted in the assassination of President Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces General Batista Tagmé Na Waï.

We call for calm and for all parties in Guinea-Bissau to respect the rule of law and follow the established constitutional order regarding succession.

We will continue to monitor events as they unfold.

Comments welcome,

Pat McGovern

It's got electoral votes. It's what politicians crave.