This is an exclusive interview granted to RFI. For the first time since his attempted arrest at the end of November, the former Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau Aristides Gomes, returns to the events for RFI. The former head of government, who currently lives in hiding, denies the accusations against him and announces that he too has filed a complaint for attempted kidnapping.
Dismissed after the coming to power of the President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, Aristides Gomes had to leave the country and go into exile, before returning to Guinea-Bissau on November 18 to attend the congress of his party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) , in Bissau. A return during which he narrowly escaped arrest. The former Prime Minister is accused of embezzlement of public funds, financial embezzlement and transfers of funds abroad while he was in office, which he disputes.
Aristides Gomes expected his return to be watched. ” I already had information indicating the intention of the power, and particularly of the president, to have me arrested. The latter had already had a conversation with several people who had warned me “, he declares at the microphone of Sebastien Nemethfrom RFI.
Among the warning signs, a flight from TAP Air Portugal on November 17. Aristides Gomes recounts having been informed that ” police officers had gone to the TAP services to see if [son] name was not on the passenger list. “After initially withdrawing from the trip, the former head of government changed his mind: “ Thinking about it, I said to myself: I haven’t done anything, it’s very unfair that I’m condemned to ostracism in a definitive way, so that I stay abroad without being able to go to my country. At some point, you have to take risks in the hope that things will clear up once and for all. I put things in the balance and decided to go for it. »
Aristide Gomes recounts the arrest he escaped and announces to file a complaint for attempted kidnapping
What follows is eventful. ” I arrive at the congress hall, this group of police officers arrive. Everybody get up. We start to fight. But the delegates manage to get me out of the room. And that’s how I was able to escape. Aristides Gomes says he does not regret coming to his party’s congress: Finally, it was proof that this regime has a plan for political persecution against me. “.
A complaint “ for the story »
” If it was the prosecution who wanted to hear me on any file, I should have been summonedhe points. The police showed up armed, but in disguise. That’s why we decided to file a complaint. » However, the former Prime Minister expects little from this complaint for attempted kidnapping: “ We cannot believe that this justice could have the means to judge the case, especially in a case where the prosecutor, the Minister of the Interior and the president himself are involved. But it was necessary to file the complaint so that the Bissau-Guineans know that justice is a justice completely manipulated by a neo-patrimonial political power, which appropriates everything. I have no hope. But, in any case, for history, one day, we will actually be able to judge ».
“The rule of law is down”
Aristide Gomes worries about the future of Guinea-Bissau
The former head of government worries about the political future of the country, while President Umaro Cissoko Embalo dissolved Parliament in May and wants constitutional reform. ” The rule of law is down “, stings Aristides Gomes. ” Since we buried the one-party regime, we had not witnessed the scenes we are witnessing, that is to say kidnappings of journalists, attempts to assassinate political figures. There is an attempt at presidentialization and authoritarianism gradually in the country. »
The future of his party also worries him: “ The attacks suffered by the PAIGC today are part of this perspective of turning back the clock. He is in danger, since he is not free to move politically. The organization of the congress was not done without difficulty, according to Aristides Gomes who mentions” a whole series of manipulations ». ” Until now, the PAIGC, to hold a meeting, it is quite a problem. It’s completely stuck “, he notes.
The former Prime Minister places his trust in public opinion: I don’t think there are any difficulties in terms of membership because people see what is happening. People manage to make the comparison between the last government of the PAIGC, that is to say mine, and with what is happening today. Moreover, in my opinion, it is this comparative perspective that bothers the current president “.