Guinea-Bissau Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr. told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday, that determining who is responsible for a series of assassinations of senior political and military figures in Guinea- Bissau earlier this year, is essential to consolidating the rule of law in his country, pledging that there would be no impunity for the perpetrators.
The Prime Minister added that his government “will do everything in its power” to ensure that a committee tasked with finding out who carried out the killings can conduct its work “in a peaceful, transparent and credible manner.”
Already suffering from turmoil following years of political instability, misrule, grinding poverty and a flourishing illicit drug trade, Guinea- Bissau was further hit this year by assassinations of then President João Bernardo Vieira as well as the armed forces’ chief of staff and a presidential candidate.
The murders “revealed the vulnerabilities of our rule of law and the weaknesses of the system of national defense and security,” said Mr. Gomes.
He noted that the government was seeking financial, technical and other support from the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) to ensure that its committee investigating the killings can conduct its work with “objectivity, transparency and speed.”
Resolving the murders is “an essential condition to ensure true justice, to contribute to the consolidation of the democratic rule of law and the protection and promotion of human rights,” he told the annual high-level segment of the General Assembly.
The Prime Minister also stressed that his government is “firmly and unequivocally” against impunity. “We will not be a party to it, nor give cover to any type of crime,” he added.
Source African Press Agency
