Bissau: Pelos olhos de Ramos-Horta

Guinea-Bissau, Population: 1.600.000; Land area 30,000km2 of mostly flat, very fertile land, plenty of rain and rivers, on the West coast of Africa, enormously rich in fish; main cash crop: cashew nuts, the best cashews in the world as claimed by locals; plenty of timber that Chinese loggers are ripping off. The country was once a net exporter of rice but then 1970′s Socialism and “lojas do povo” steadfastly bankrupted it. Yet It could again be a bread basket for its immediate neighbours. It borders Senegal and the other Guinea. GB neighbours were colonised by mighty France while GB was colonised for 500 yrs by Portugal. Once an enterprising sea explorer nation, Portugal began its rapid decline to a pitiful status when it expelled its best and brightest, it’s Jews, becoming a sadly poor country, frozen in time since the 1920′ by the Salazar dictatorship. A reasonably well-informed person would hear or read about the country where I’m right now: military coups, brutal executions, perennial political instability, elected governments never serving a full-term. Security “non-existent” (sic) according to an official Portuguese source. The latest coup took place in April 2012. Then in October same year an alleged attempted counter-coup took place. Those who did the coup in April 2012 are doing fine since. Those who attempted the alleged counter-coup a few months later but failed are in jail. Lesson: if you want to do a counter coup to a coup do it properly. Otherwise, those who did the successful coup will consider your unsuccessful coup illegal, have you arrested and tried in a kangaroo court. According to Press accounts, drug shipments originating in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, sometimes transiting through Brazil’s Fortaleza, make their way by air or sea to improvised landing sites or on uncontrolled coastlines of Guinea-Bissau, its 80 islands, and from here continue their journey to Europe, via Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, etc. Some in the military, maybe a handful of political leaders and businessmen are involved in the drug business. And the country is called the first and only “Narco State” in the world. According to same sources, Nigerian drug cartels are trying to wrestle control of the high risk but highly lucrative business from the Colombians. Colombian criminals with decades of experience are notoriously brutal. But Nigerians are tough, street smart, and have one advantage, they are playing in their own backyard. Needless to say the ongoing narrative on the good people of Guinea-Bissau is too simplified, exaggerated and unfair even if admitedly there’s a degree of truth in all that. This nefarious calamity does exist in Guinea-Bissau and there is a well-established network here that receives the consignments coming from South America and move them to Europe. Even in the more functional States of Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria drug and money laundering activities permeate the States which are unable to effectively monitor and intercept ships or planes approaching their territories from South America. I’m told that Senegal, a reasonably well-run country, does not have a radar system beyond a few miles from its main international airport. The ordinary people of Guinea-Bissau are among the last innocent, well-meaning, harmless people on Earth. They remind me of the indigenous peoples of the Americas or New Guinea before the arrival of the European adventurers, criminals and missionaries who brought bibles and syphillis. Murder rate is lowest in the entire Continent. Common criminality is very low here even though because of the open borders in West Africa hundreds of thousands of undocumented people cross the land borders on any given day. It took the Europeans hundreds of years of existence as Sovereign States before they were able to end wars, build a region-wide organisation, customs union, single currency, open borders, etc. Africans are more audacious. What they are in fact doing is dismantling the old European-imposed colonial borders that separated and split national entities, allowing their people to freely travel across the region. So here in Guinea-Bissau one can see tens of thousands of people from Senegal, Guinea, The Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, etc trying to make a living. And thousands of Bissau-Guineans flock in the other direction. But being less educated and less street smart the Bissau-Guineans are being overwhelmed by others. In most countries, following a coup, executions of alleged “enemies”, real or perceived, are the norm; “traitors” are disposed off very casually. And usually the impoverished and furstrated youth seize the moment to empty stores, driving away with looted items, from DVDs to refrigerators, Reebok shoes, iPhones, and even cars. This happened from New York to New Orleans, to Birmingham and Dili, everytime there was a natural or man-made tumult. Bissau-Guineans should teach us all civilized behavior. Here in this impoverished country the army doesn’t execute by the dozens. They can be brutal when they go after the “enemy” within. Coup leaders do kill other military rival leaders who had done their own coup some time earlier and may imprison, bash up those courageous civil society members daring to denounce the coup or speaking out on abuses. But there wasn’t a case o summary execution of political dissidents following the April 2012 coup. Problems here are of different nature: Soldiers, police, school teachers, doctors and nurses are not paid for months. The army is far too big for the size of the country and has more generals and admirals than any country many times the size of little Guinea-Bissau. There isn’t a functioning coast guard boat or a single flying air plane but there are Air Force Chiefs and Admirals, plus an “Air Base” and a “Navy Base”. It reminds me of my childhood bathtub navy when I was the Admiral and my pet ugly duck was the valiant commodore. The military coup makers are blamed for decades of instability; but the political elites who have held the reigns of power since independence (mis) managing the finances of the country should at least share in the blame. The two hold the key to political stability and transformation of their country. Yet, many in the political class have often manipulated the officer corps to bring down an elected government; the military elite are still from the old guard of valiant freedom fighters who liberated the country; but most of them are completely illiterate or half illiterate. Jose Ramos-Horta (posted on ramoshorta.com)