Safeguarding Security Reform in Bissau

Two days prior to a conflict assessment team leaving for Guinea-Bissau in 2004, the Chief of Staff of Guinea-Bissua’s Armed Forces was killed by his own men. Shortly thereafter, a new Chief of Staff was named: General Baptista Tagme Na Waie, a well-admired but sometimes controversial freedom fighter from Guinea-Bissau’s war of independence with Portugal.

Courtesy of CIIAN

Local contacts of the International Peace and Prosperity Project’s (IPPP) had heard that General Tagme wanted to keep the separation of the military and executive branches of the government firm – unlike other Army heads that had either helped mastermind coups or looked the other way when sitting presidents were threatened by the Armed Forces. The IPPP was quick to jump at the opportunity to meet this new Armed Forces Chief of Staff and offer technical assistance on national security and support his interests to stay objective in the midst of national politics.

The Response
Through the next 4 years, high-level meetings were held with General Tagme. Retired British Brigadier Vere Hayes and former Zimbabwean freedom fighter and Carter Center’s Security and Rebel Group Specialist Jeffery Mapendere offered technical assistance. In addition to meeting with the USA, British, Canadian foreign embassies in Dakar and crafting a guiding letter to General Tagme, Brigadier Hayes gave General Tagme support on how to respond to the needs of the Armed Forces’ enlisted men.

The Outcome
General Tagme him-self began to work on reconciling factions – a major stumbling block for stability in the country – within the armed forces. Working side-by-side with his civilian counterpart, the Minister of Defense, General Tagme was taking steps to reform the military – even sending high-level military officials on a national tour of all the military bases to share the vision of reconciliation among the armed forces.

A few days after both the Presidential 2005 and the Parliamentary 2008 election results were released attacks were made on the residence of the newly-elected President. Some reports framed the attack as an attempted coup and others said the attack was waged by a small group of soldiers dissatisfied with the election results. Nevertheless, General Tagme and his Armed Forces provided protection to the democratically elected presidents in both cases – even when one group of the attackers belonged to General Tagme’s own ethnic group – and investigated the attacks in the aftermath.

His actions were illustrative to the success of the IPPP’s efforts over the last 4 years to reinforce the need of the rule of law reign and the separation between politics and the armed forces.