Guinea-Bissau`s new PM fires radio, TV chiefs over `bias`

Bissau: Guinea-Bissau`s new Prime Minister Baciro Dja on Monday sacked the chiefs of the state-owned radio and television services for "bias" in their reporting of a recent government shake-up.

Dja was appointed last week after President Jose Mario Vaz fired his predecessor Domingos Simoes Pereira, angering the ruling party and plunging the chronically unstable nation into fresh crisis.

While all three men belong to the ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) -- which holds a slender majority in parliament -- it has fallen behind its leader Pereira in the dispute.

Dja, 39, a former minister and government spokesman, has yet to name the members of his cabinet, but swiftly announced the sacking of radio and television chiefs Muniro Conte and Paula Mielo for their "biased treatment of the political crisis", in a statement.

He also condemned the state media outlets for broadcasting parliamentary debates live during the crisis, saying they "had not respected the guidance given regarding the maintenance of a climate of peace."

Vaz was elected in May 2014 in a bid to return the west African nation to stability after its latest military coup in 2012.

He said his fallout with Pereira stemmed partly from the appointment of a new armed forces chief, a key post in the small nation known as a hub in drug trafficking between South America and Europe.

Meanwhile on Monday lawmakers held an emergency session to debate Dja`s appointment, which the ruling party denounced last week as a "constitutional coup."

The National Assembly said in a statement it "vehemently condemns" the appointment of Dja "who was not proposed by the party which won the last legislative elections, in this case the PAIGC."