Guinea Bissau president fires Interior Minister Botche Candé over ‘drug trafficking'
Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo.
Guinea Bissau President on Thursday sacked Interior Minister Botche Candé for allegedly being involved in drug trafficking.
The US government has labelled Guinea-Bissau Africa’s first narco-state.
In 2013, the country was cited as a major transit hub for cocaine from Latin America to Europe and North America, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
In February, a coup attempt in the country was linked to narcotics and other interests.
The country’s military was previously accused of taking part in the narcotics trade. It was reportedly using its coastline as cover while taking part in the vice.
Last week, the Civil Society Organisations' Consultation Space called for Mr Candé's resignation after compromising audios and investigation reports were released on social media about criminal networks of drug trafficking with the alleged involvement of the highest hierarchies of the Ministry of Interior and the Attorney General's office. They also called for the AG’s resignation.
Last month, the police information and criminal investigation department of the Public Order Police said it seized over 80 kilos of cocaine.
Later, audio recordings were leaked on social media, indicating that, in total, it was 600 and not 80 kilos.
Civil society groups alleged that senior officials from the Ministry of the Interior and the Attorney General's Office appropriated the difference.
Apart from firing Interior Minister Botche Candé, President Umaro Sissoco Embaló also sacked Minister for Agriculture Sandji Fati, and the Secretary of State for Public Order, Fernando Augusto Cabi.
In a second decree, President Embaló abolished the Secretariat of State for Public Order. In the third decree, he appointed Mr Sandji Fati as Interior Minister and Botche Candé as Minister of State, Agriculture and Development.
General Sandji Fati was Guinea-Bissau's Minister of Defence until May of this year.
