GUINEA-BISSAU- End of a Revolutionary


GUINEA-BISSAU End of a Revolutionary Africanist THE assassination of Amicar Cabral, leader of the Partido Africano da Inde- pendencia da Guinee e Cabo Verde (PAIGC), may have been masterminded by Portuguese. But to understand the background to this assassination several factors have to be taken into account, including the contradictions within Sekou Toure's Guinea PAIGC and within the PAIGC itself. It was from Conakry in Guinea that Cabral launched the PAIGC and the struggle in Portuguese- occupied Guinea-Bissau with valuable support from Sekou Toure's government. It is well known that Toure was a close confidant of Cabral. Kwami Nkrumah also played an intimate role in the relationship between the PAIGC and Guinea. Thus, the Portuguese and other Western powers, like France, recognised that Guinea under Toure was the centre of resistance to Western domination of West Africa. The Portuguese and other powers had every reason to believe that if the moral and material support that the PAIGC was receiving from Guinea were stopped, the PAIGCs position in Guinea-Bissau would be considerably weakened. Towards this end the Portuguese instigated an in- surrection-cum-invasion of Guinea in 1971 which was easily crushed by Toure's forces.