The strength of the Guinea-Bissau army will be reduced from 10,000 to 3,400 men, Commander José Zamora Induta has disclosed.
He was speaking at the closing of the two-day meeting on the reform project of the security and defense forces jointly organized by the European Union Commission (EU) and the Guinea-Bissau Defence Ministry and Civil Society.
According to him, this move is part of the reform within the security and defense forces by 2010 in Guinea-Bissau, which plans for a considerable reduction in the numbers of soldiers.
“The reform of the armed forces and the security sector is an imperative. That is why the international community and all the partners of Guinea-Bissau must contribute”, he added.
“Soldiers must leave the barracks and go back to civil life”, he underscored before adding that the recruitment of young men is considered to replace the old ones”.
The army is particularly influent in Guinea-Bissau, a poor country that became independent in 1974 following the eleven-year-long liberation war.
The country later experienced an eleven-month civil war from June 1998 to May 1999.
Source African Press Agency
