Arrested Bissau navy boss tried coup - sources
By Alberto Dabo
BISSAU, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Guinea-Bissau's navy chief had tried to launch a coup before he was arrested earlier this week, sources said on Friday, underlining instability in a country in the grip of a political crisis and a booming cocaine trade.
Rear-Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto tried to garner support for a coup last Friday but failed and was arrested on Wednesday, sources in the capital Bissau said.
Na Tchuto's arrest added to a political crisis that prompted neighbouring Senegal to dispatch a high-level delegation to Bissau.
Within the last week, President Joao Bernardo Vieira has dissolved parliament and named a new prime minister after the supreme court declared the law makers' mandate invalid and the opposition left a unity government.
New legislative elections are not scheduled until November.
Guinea-Bissau is no stranger to coups or instability, having been shaken by a series of crises since independence in 1974. But the country is under intense scrutiny for its role as a hub in the multi-billion-dollar global cocaine trade.
"Americo Bubo Na Tchuto was arrested, disarmed and put under house arrest because he tried to launch a coup last Friday," an army officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Na Tchuto had tried to escape arrest but failed, he said.
"It seems like the head of the navy tried to stage a coup," said a diplomat. "He tried to involve others but failed. The (armed forces) chief of staff says things are under control."
A security source said an investigation was being carried out within the armed forces into a suspected coup attempt.
Taking advantage of long, porous borders and, some analysts say, the complicity of local civilian and military authorities, international drugs smugglers have turned Guinea-Bissau into a transit point for cocaine headed from Latin America to Europe.
Last month two planes were seized in Bissau. International drug experts were allowed on board one of them only after a standoff between two branches of the security services.
The plane was found to be empty but sniffer dogs confirmed it had carried cocaine. The head of the control tower was subsequently arrested and the deputy head of the air force is wanted for questioning, security sources said.
Drug experts have repeatedly warned the drugs trade and rivalry between local factions involved in it risked fuelling instability in weak countries in West Africa.
Senegal said it had sent a minister to Bissau after Vieira spoke to Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade about the situation.
The delegation had discussed the tensions between the military and politicians but had been reassured the armed forces would respect state institutions, Senegalese Interior Minister Cheikh Tidiane Sy told Senegalese state television on Thursday. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/) (Additional reporting by Diadie Ba and David Lewis in Dakar; writing by David Lewis; Editing by Alistair Thomson)
