Guinea-Bissau President Appoints Baciro Dja as New Prime Minister

Guinea-Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz has appointed Baciro Dja as the new Prime Minister.

New Prime Minister Baciro Dja. (Source: news.yahoo)

The presidential decree states that Mr Dja, 39, a former government spokesman and minister of presidential affairs, will replace Domingos Simoes Pereira as prime minister of the West African nation. The move comes just a week after President Jose Mario Vaz dissolved the government amid growing disagreements with former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira.

On August 12, President Mario Vaz admitted that a "crisis" in relations with Prime Minister Simoes Pereira was harming the functioning of the government in this small West African country. According to President Mario Vaz, the disagreements included the appointment of a new commander of the armed forces, as well as corruption...

Mr. Mario Vaz emphasized that "government reform will still not be enough" in the context that "despite efforts, it has not been possible to resolve the difficulties in the relationship between the president and the prime minister".

Guinea-Bissau's 16-member government took office in July 2014, two months after Mr Vaz became Guinea-Bissau's first democratically elected president since a military coup in 2012.

Guinea-Bissau is Africa's smallest but most unstable country, with many coups, rebellions and political assassinations occurring since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974./.

(According to Vietnam+)