DESTINATION GUINEA-BISSAU
After the most protracted war of liberation in Africa, Guinea-Bissau is again at war, this time with itself. In June 1998 the government of President João Bernardo 'Nino' Vieira dismissed General Ansumane Mané, chief of the armed forces, under suspicion of trafficking arms to a rebel movement in neighbouring Senegal. He called troops loyal to him to arms and proclaimed a military junta against the government. His rebel force seized a large part of the capital, and more than 3000 troops from neighbouring French-speaking Senegal and Guinea arrived to prop up the embattled government. Thousands of people fled the capital, Bissau, and hundreds of thousands more throughout the country have been displaced by fighting.
The warring parties signed a ceasefire brokered by Togo in February 1999, and since then people have begun to trickle back into the capital. The situation remains tense, though, and no one knows what will happen when the peacekeeping troops go home. The rebels are by far the stronger faction, and diplomatic sources have suggested that they may not be able to resist the temptation to fire another shot at the government after the peacekeepers leave. Stay well clear of Guinea-Bissau; even if the ceasefire holds there is still the threat of starvation and disease, and you'll be placing extra strains on an economy - and a country - already in smoking ruins.
