No crime scene: Apathy over Guinea-Bissau president's death shows just how failed this failed state is
March 5, 2009
By TODD PITMAN
BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) _ The blood-soaked dining room where Guinea-Bissau's president was brutally murdered is littered with broken glass, bullet casings and a rusted machete.
No crime scene tape cordons off the area, no police stand guard outside. No one has been arrested, and hardly anyone in this sleepy tropical capital seems to care.
The apathy surrounding the slaying of President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira in his own home _ as well as the bombing attack that killed his main rival hours earlier _ symbolizes just how far this drug-wracked state has fallen.
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The blood is real:Triller master stumbles into Africa mayhem
March 5, 2009
By TODD PITMAN
BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) _ It could have been a scene right out of one of his own thrillers. And when his next novel is published, it may very well be.
British author Frederick ("The Day of the Jackal") Forsyth jetted into coup-prone, cocaine-plagued Guinea-Bissau this week to research his latest novel, and found real life trumping fiction.
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In Guinea-Bissau's tropical capital, residents welcome bloodless coup
At right, the author shakes hands with coup leader, Gen. Verissimo Correia Seabra in 2003. Seabra was killed a year later by angry soldiers demanding their salaries be paid.
September 17, 2003
By TODD PITMAN
BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) _ Like so many coups in Africa, the news came over state radio after dawn: A military junta had overthrown the president and put him under house arrest.
Sunday's ouster of Guinea-Bissau President Kumba Yala was condemned by governments around the world for what it was: An affront to democracy, and a bad precedent for a continent struggling to shake off decades of instability.
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No crime scene: Apathy over Guinea-Bissau president's death shows just how failed this failed state is
