Exclusive: Detained Guinea-Bissau PM, Interim President released

Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (PANA) - Guinea-Bissau Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and Interim President Raimundo Pereira, who were arrested and detained by the soldiers who seized power in the country 12 April, may have been freed, PANA learnt here on Friday evening.

''The Prime Minister and the Interim President have been released to an ECOWAS delegation and are on their way to Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire,'' a source close to the Military Command in Bissau told PANA.

The source did not give further details of the release, which comes less than 24 hours after the regional bloc ECOWAS gave the Military Command 72 hours to free the detained officials or face sanctions.

Other demands by ECOWAS, after an extra-ordinary summit held in Abidjan Thursday, include the immediate restoration of constitutional order to allow for the completion of the electoral process, which was truncated by the coup.

ECOWAS is sending a 638-strong contingent of its Standby Force to Guinea-Bissau to facilitate the withdrawal of the Angolan Technical and Military Assistance Mission in Guinea-Bissau (MISSANG), assist in securing the transitional process and undertake preparatory work for the immediate implementation of the roadmap for the Defence and Security Sector Reform Programme (DSSRP), among others.
-0- PANA SEG 27April2012