Leaders pay condolences to Guinea-Bissau President Sanha

Jan 11, 2012, 10:02 GMT

Monrovia/Bissau - Leaders paid condolences Tuesday to Guinea-Bissau's president, Malam Bacai Sanha, who died Monday in a Paris hospital.

Sanha, 64, died at the Val de Grace military hospital, which has a long history of treating West African presidents.

Although Sanha's office gave no official cause of death, radio stations in Guinea-Bissau reported that he had been in a coma after suffering from complications linked to diabetes.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Sanha's death 'represents a great loss for Guinea-Bissau, to which he dedicated his life.'

'President Sanha was very eager to preserve national unity and guide his country through the pitfalls of a turbulent political life,' he said, adding that Bissau-Guineans had been left 'orphaned' by his death.

Sarkozy urged Guinea-Bissau's interim leader Raimundo Pereira to 'quickly organize free and transparent elections.'

Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos released a statement describing Sanha's death as 'a great loss' for the fellow lusophone country.

'It comes at a time when Guinea Bissau is still recovering from recent wounds and is making efforts to normalise its internal situation,' he said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon paid tribute to the leader on Monday, saying he had 'guided Guinea-Bissau at a particularly difficult time in its history.'

Shops and businesses were open as normal Tuesday in the country's capital, Bissau.

But radio stations played music in tribute to Sanha, who was voted into power in July 2009, after long-time president Joao Bernardo Vieira was assassinated.

Sanha, who was once an advisor to revered independence fighter Amilcar Cabral, is one of many Guinea-Bissau presidents who did not complete their term in office.

However, he is the only leader in recent history not to have been killed or overthrown.

The group of West African states, ECOWAS, said elections would be organised within 90 days.

Pereira is now faced with the task of ensuring a smooth transition period in Guinea-Bissau, which has a long history of coups, counter-coups and failed coups.

'In the past there has been too much squabbling for power,' the country's UN representative Joseph Mutaboba told dpa. 'There is too much demand and not enough possibilities. Everyone wants to become what they can never become.'

Infrastructure improved and drug trafficking decreased in Guinea-Bissau during Sanha's time in office.

In recent months the president had begun to embrace freedom of speech, even backing hip-hop initiatives that gave young people a voice.