Guinea Bissau president appoints new PM

Guinea Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz on Thursday named Baciro Dja as the new Prime Minister (PM) to replace Domingos Simoes Pereira who was sacked last week, an official source has said.

Dja is a former minister in the office of the president who was suspended from the ruling party, African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).

The new presidential appointee was not chosen by PAIGC, the biggest parliamentary party that is supposed to propose the prime minister's name.

Early this month, Dja was suspended from his post as the third vice-chairman of PAIGC by the party's disciplinary committee for undermining the party's chairman, Simoes Pereira.

He had resigned in June from government following a misunderstanding with the sacked prime minister.

In his decree, President Vaz said he made the decision after holding talks with parties represented in parliament.

PAIGC which had been engaged in a dispute with Vaz by proposing that he reappoints Pereira, has opposed the president's new appointee.

Last week, parties represented in parliament called for the respect of the Constitution and urged the president to retain Pereira who was dismissed over his disagreements with the president.

Vaz and Pereira are both members of PAIGC, the party that emerged victorious in last year's parliamentary elections with 57 seats out of a total of 102.

While justifying the dismissal, Vaz accused the former PM of "mismanagement of public resources, corruption, nepotism and obstruction of justice."

Legal experts said if parliament fails to approve the new nominee, it will be dissolved and legislative elections will be held within 90 days as stipulated in the Constitution.

Since gaining independence in 1974 from Portugal, Guinea Bissau has witnessed a lot of political instability caused by military coups. This instability has transformed the country, which is the poorest in the world, into a drug trafficking hub.