- While the democratisation process in Guinea-Bissau has been fairly successful so far, the impoverished country still struggles with the same problems that led to the September coup, the UN warns today. State revenues remain low and salaries still go unpaid.
In his latest report to the UN Security Council on the situation in Guinea-Bissau, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said unpaid salary arrears are still "a critical problem." The unstable country's democratisation process remains fragile, with government revenues below projections.
While the international community was aiming at assisting the Bissau government, funds were coming in too slow. A special fund, administered by the UN Development Fund (UNDP), had collected just over US$ 4 million out of US$ 18.3 million needed to pay salary arrears to government employees and provide current social services, according to the report.
Unpaid salary arrears were a major political problem, Mr Annan held. Previously, when ex-President Kumba Yala's government had lacked the funds to pay salaries, civil servants staged strikes, which briefly brought a military junta to power last September, the report recalled. However, with international aid, elections for all senior positions but the President were held last March.
The report however also hailed the progress made by Bissau authorities in the implementation of the transitional process, due to end with the holding of presidential elections in March 2005. Since the formation of the new government on 11 May, the new authorities had been "mindful of the popular expectation for tangible change," the report said.
The UN found that the efforts of the new Bissau government had been "guided by two considerations. The first is to consolidate national reconciliation and to ensure the full restoration of constitutional order and fortify the rule of law and respect for human rights. The second is to continue developing stable and constructive relations with the country's neighbours and other international partners."
Among the concrete priority objectives set by the new government were "the creation of necessary institutional capacity for assuming national responsibility for good governance, accountable and transparent financial management and the improvement of socio-economic conditions," Mr Annan observed.
Consequently, the overall situation in Guinea-Bissau this year has remained peaceful. "However, the ethnic imbalance within the military, unpaid salary arrears for security forces as well as the poor condition of barracks and infrastructure continue to be seen as potentially destabilising factors," Mr Annan warned.
Furthermore, he says he his "encouraged" by signs of greater participation of women in the country's political life. This included the election of a woman, Maria do Céu Silva Monteiro, as President of the Supreme Court and the appointment of five women to ministerial posts. The UN peacekeepers in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) are to continue efforts to support gender equality, the report says.
The gravest concern was however over the failure to secure revenues for the new Bissau government, which could jeopardise the entire democratisation process. The UNDP-administered fund for post-conflict Guinea-Bissau received US$ 4 million in donations from the Netherlands, Sweden and France, as well as Portugal and Brazil.
In the first four months of 2004, Guinea-Bissau also had received other donations totalling US$ 7 million from Portugal, Ghana, Angola and the West African Economic and Monetary Union. Most thus had come from African sources.
Mr Annan however cautions that peace cannot be built by outsiders, and stresses the need for the government to remain in the lead. "If the elected leaders are unable or unwilling to shoulder their sovereign responsibilities, especially in the absence of viable and accountable state structures, neither peace nor development can emerge or endure."
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