The Wire - News from The AP

NOVEMBER 23, 08:59 EST

Army Patrols Guinea-Bissau Capital

By BARRY HATTON
Associated Press Writer

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Gunfire and sporadic explosions rattled the capital of Guinea-Bissau on Thursday as government troops turned on soldiers backing a former coup leader who has challenged the government's authority, reports said.

No casualties were reported, but the Portuguese news agency Lusa said dozens of civilians were fleeing Bissau, the former Portuguese colony's coastal capital.

Daniel Perdigao, the press attache at the Portuguese embassy, said the shooting began before dawn and lasted two hours. The explosions were apparently from rockets fired from hand-held launchers.

After the gunfire died down, government troops patrolled key areas of Bissau, Perdigao said by telephone.

The Portuguese embassy had received reports that army units also were gathering near an air base on the outskirts of the city where Brig. Ansumane Mane, who led a military rebellion in 1998, and his supporters are holed up.

``People are not panicking but they are staying in their houses and there's little movement on the streets,'' Perdigao said.

He said the embassy was trying to contact Mane and the government to dissuade them from further fighting.

Intelligence reports indicated most of the 23,000-strong armed forces had sided with the government but Mane's troops were in control of a large weapons depot at the fortified air base, Perdigao said.

In a communique read on the country's state radio, the armed forces urged civilians to stay in their homes until order is restored, Lusa reported.

Army spokesman Capt. Zamora Induta told state radio the army controlled all rural areas of the small West African country except the central zone, according to Lusa.

Induta said the army had arrested the commander of the region, Augusto Mario Co, who was in Bissau, though he provided no details.

The armed forces communique accused Mane of ``insubordination and breaches of the constitution.''

Mane prompted the crisis on Monday when he announced he was ousting the armed forces chief and taking charge of the armed forces.

His move, which came after a dispute with President Kumba Yala over military promotions, drew a protest from the U.N. Security Council Tuesday in New York.

The shooting first erupted Wednesday evening but stopped at midnight, Lusa said. Gunfire also was reported in the town of Mansoa, about 35 miles from the capital, on Wednesday evening, the report said.

The clashes reportedly were between Mane's followers and soldiers loyal to Gen. Verissimo Correia Seabra, the chief of the armed forces ousted by Mane.

Guinea-Bissau, a poorly developed nation of about 1.1 million people, is struggling to recover from the rebellion two years ago that killed more than 2,000 people and ended with the ouster of President Joao Bernardo Vieira.

That uprising, led by Mane, had broad popular support and led to internationally monitored elections last year.