Guinea Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz said on Monday he will dissolve the government led by Prime Minister Baciro Dja and appoint another soon, as part of a plan to end a political deadlock that has gripped the country for over a year.
Dja was appointed in May to ease tensions that have paralyzed the West African country’s political institutions since August 2015.
But he has failed to win the full support of his ruling PAIGC party.
“I will dismiss this government and appoint without delay a Prime Minister who must form an inclusive government,” Vaz said.
Once hailed as a potential model for African development, Guinea-Bissau is now one of the poorest countries in the world, regularly rocked by social and political instability.
In 2015, a year after coming to power President Vaz dismissed his prime minister and party colleague, Domingos Simoes Pereira, following a series of disputes between the two, including over the naming of a new army chief.
Baciro Ja was later named as Pereira’s replacement but that did not put an end to the political crisis.
Talks in neighbouring Guinea led to a deal for the naming of a consensual prime minister.
Baciro Ja and his cabinet were dismissed as part of that political deal.
Source: Africafeeds.com, additional materials from Reuters and BBC
