Artur Sanhá

António Artur Sanhá (* 1965 ?) Was Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from September 28, 2003 to May 10, 2004 .

Political career

Sanhá belongs to the Partido para a Renovação Social (PRS) party of former President Kumba Ialá . After Ialá won the presidential election, he became Minister of the Interior in February 2000. In August 2001 he was dismissed from office after months before he had been traded as a possible prime minister. Ialá did not justify the decision, but it was seen to be related to the murder of a woman with whom Sanhá is said to have had a relationship. One case against him was dropped for lack of evidence

After the overthrow of Ialá in a military coup , he became Prime Minister on September 28, 2003 under the interim president Henrique Pereira Rosa . Sanhá's appointment was initially controversial as he was also general secretary of Ialá's PRS party. Most of the political parties spoke out against him, and the junta of Veríssimo Correia Seabra , who had ruled the country since September 14, prevailed on this issue.

In the parliamentary elections in March 2004, the former unity party Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC) won and its chairman Carlos Gomes Júnior replaced him on May 9, 2004 as head of government.

In June 2005, Sanhá, still Secretary General of the PRS, was briefly imprisoned when, after Ialá's defeat in the first round of the presidential election, protests were sometimes violent and he led a protest march with a weapon.

Web links

• IRIN NEWS about Sanhás dismissal as Minister, 29 August 2001 (English)
• IRIN NEWS about Sanhás appointment as prime minister, 23 September 2003 (English)
• Radio France International on the same topic, September 24, 2003 (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1514061.stm
2. ↑ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=25512
3. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4619601.stm