Bissau: a terra da impunidade

There were no developments in the cases of the 2009 killings of former president Vieira and former armed forces chief of staff General Jose Batista Tagme Na Waie. In March 2009, Na Waie was killed by a bomb outside his office in military headquarters. Following Na Waie's assassination, soldiers under the command of Colonel Antonio Indjai tortured and then hacked Vieira to death with machetes in what was widely considered retaliation for the killing of Na Waie. Observers noted that the longstanding tension between Vieira and Na Waie had increased due to Na Waie's 2008 accusation that Vieira was involved in the drug trade. It was unclear whether the killings were linked to the growing cocaine trade through West Africa, but Vieira and senior military officers had been accused of profiting from it. The national commission of inquiry, established in 2009 to investigate the killings, did not identify or charge anyone during the year.

There were no developments in the case of former national assembly deputy Helder Proenca, whom military personnel beat, shot, and killed, along with his bodyguard and driver, in June 2009 on the outskirts of Bissau. Proenca, who had been accused of plotting to overthrow the government on June 5 by Colonel Samba Djalo, chief of the Military Information and Security Service, reportedly was killed while resisting arrest. In November 2009 the state attorney general filed a criminal complaint against Djalo; however, the case remained pending at year's end.

No perpetrators had been identified or punished by year's end for the June 2009 death of former presidential candidate and assemblyman Baciro Dabo. Soldiers shot and killed Dabo after accusing him of plotting with Proenca to overthrow the government.

There were no developments in the 2008 killing of a judicial police officer by security forces.

During the year Alexandre Tchama Yala, the suspected leader of a 2008 coup attempt in which two presidential guards were killed, remained at large following his 2009 escape from detention.

Departamento de Estado norte-americano, 8 de Abril de 2011