Ansumane Mane
| Ansumane Mané | |
|---|---|
| Chairman of the Supreme Command of the Military Junta | |
|
In office 7 May 1999 – 14 May 1999 |
|
| Preceded by | Nino Vieira (as President) |
| Succeeded by | Malam Bacai Sanhá (as acting President) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | circa 1940 |
| Died | 30 November 2000 (aged 59–60) Biombo Region, Guinea-Bissau |
| Political party | None (military) |
Ansumane Mané (c. 1940 – 30 November 2000) was a Bissau-Guinean soldier who led a 1998 uprising against the government of President João Bernardo Vieira, which caused a brief, but bloody civil war.
Mané fought in the war of independence from Portugal alongside Vieira, and he backed Vieira when the latter seized power in a 1980 coup. In early 1998, he was suspended as Chief of Staff of the armed forces for allegedly smuggling arms to Casamance separatist rebels in Senegal. In a letter published in early April 1998, he in turn made the same accusation against the Minister of Defense, Samba Lamine Mané, and other officers; he also alleged that Vieira had permitted the arms smuggling and claimed that he was suspended as Chief of Staff in connection with "shady plan to mount a coup d'état".
Mané was subsequently dismissed by Vieira and replaced by General Humberto Gomes on 6 June 1998. He led a military rebellion against Vieira on the following day, resulting in the civil war. A peace agreement in November 1998 provided for a transitional national unity government and new elections.
After Vieira was deposed on 7 May 1999 in a renewed outbreak of fighting, Mané became temporary head of state (official title: Chairman of the Supreme Command of the Military Junta) until 14 May when Malam Bacai Sanhá, the President of the National People's Assembly, was installed as acting President.
The military junta headed by Mané remained in place during the transitional period leading to new elections; Mané cast himself as a guardian of democracy. A parliamentary election, along with the first round of a presidential election, was held on 28 November 1999. Two weeks prior to this, Mané's junta proposed an arrangement giving it power over the government for ten years, which would enable it to dissolve the government in case of a severe political crisis; however, political parties objected to this and the proposal was dropped. Although the junta backed the presidential candidacy of Malam Bacai Sanhá of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) in the second round of the election, held in January 2000, Kumba Ialá of the Party for Social Renewal (PRS) was victorious. Prior to the election, Ialá had already said that it would not be acceptable for the junta to remain in any capacity.
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