Soldiers hold Guinea-Bissau PM in suspected coup bid
05:08, 14 April 2012
BISSAU. April 13. KAZINFORM Soldiers in Guinea-Bissau have arrested the outgoing Prime Minister, Carlos Gomes Junior, in a suspected coup bid.
A military press attache and his wife confirmed his detention, after gunfire was heard in the capital overnight.
The country's interim President, Raimundo Pereira, is also being held, according to the AFP news agency.
Correspondents say Mr Gomes, who is running for president in this month's run-off vote, is unpopular with the military over plans to scale it down.
Guinea-Bissau, an impoverished former Portuguese colony, has been plagued by a long series of coups since gaining independence in 1974 - and has recently become an important staging post for gangs smuggling drugs from Latin America to Europe.
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