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1st LD Writethru: Guinea Bissau president dissolves gov't amid rift with PM

Xinhua, August 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

Guinea Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz has dissolved the government led by Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, an official source said on Wednesday night.

The source said the president had taken the decision due to "a serious institutional crisis" that had affected normal functioning of public institutions.

The presidential decree accused the government of hindering justice, promoting corruption and lack of transparency in management of public funds.

Pereira was appointed to the position last year as the leader of the party with the largest number of parliamentarians.

Differences that emerged a few days ago between the president and the prime minister following the president's announcement that he may dissolve government, resulted in protests by trade unions, civil society groups and members of his political party.

The party, African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, to which both the president and the prime minister belong, had last week accused the president of orchestrating the crisis and threatened to withdraw its support for him if he persists with plans to dissolve the government.

The rising political tension in the country forced representatives of Guinea Bissau's multilateral partners to issue a statement on Wednesday urging political actors to dialogue to end the crisis.

The law allows the president to dissolve the government in case of a political crisis. He is supposed to put in place an interim government that would organize legislative elections within 90 days. Endit