10 Things You Didn’t Know About Guinea-Bissau’s Independence

Although these days Guinea-Bissau is in the news for the ebola epidemic, the country also celebrates its Independence Day on Sep 24. Here are 10 things you didn’t know about Guinea-Bissau and independence:

Sources: CIA World Fact Book , BBC News , Encyclopedia Britannica 

1. When it’s celebrated

Guinea-Bissau celebrates Independence Day on Sep 24, which is the date in 1973 that the country declared its independence from Portugal.

2. Portugal didn’t recognize at first

Although Guinea-Bissau declared itself independent on Sep 24, 1973, Portugal didn’t recognize this until Sep 10, 1974 as part of the Algiers Accord.

3. Political upheaval

Independence has not brought peace in Guinea-Bissau, however. In fact the country has been in a state of political and military upheaval ever since.

4. First in a line of “dictators”

Joao Bernardo ‘Nino’ Vieira took control in a military coup in 1980 and called himself president. Although he started to set up a market economy and multiparty system, the CIA reports his regime was “characterized by the suppression of political opposition and the purging of political rivals.”

5. Coup attempts

There were a number of coup attempts in the 1980s and early 1990s but none were able to unseat Vieira, who was eventually elected president in 1994 during the country’s first free elections.

6. Didn’t last long

His reign didn’t last long after these free elections. In 1998 the military mutinied — and the civil war that followed led to his ousting in May 1999.

7. Opposition leader takes over

In early 2000, power was turned over to opposition leader Kumba Yala through a transitional government. Yala was elected president in a transparent polling.

8. He also didn’t last long

It only took three years for Yala to get ousted, however. The event was a bloodless military coup in Sep 2003. Businessman Henrique Rosa was then sworn in as interim president.

9. Viera Take 2

In 2005, the ousted “original” president, Joao Bernardo ‘Nino’ Viera was re-elected president on the basis of promising to pursue economic development and national reconciliation. In March 2009, however, Viera was assassinated.

10. Return to democracy

After a series of coups between 2009 and 2014, democratic civilian rule was finally returned when former finance minister José Mário Vaz was inaugurated as president on June 23, 2014.