BISSAU, Nov 19 (AFP) - Guinea-Bissau's new defence minister, naval
Commander Zamora Induta, was Tuesday replaced by Marcelino Simoes Lopes
Cabral, officials announced a day after he was appointed.
   A source close to the armed forces said that Induta, who is currently in
the United States for training, had himself turned down the job in the new
government appointed Monday.
   "The function of a minister is incompatible with that of an officer on
active service," a member of the armed forces general staff told AFP by
telephone.
   Induta's appointment was among the most noteworthy on Monday by new
Prime Minister Pedro Pires. The officer had served as spokesman in a former
military regime.
   Cabral, the man replacing him, has been serving as defence adviser to
President Kumba Yala, who sacked the tropical west African country's
previous government on Friday, accusing it of incompetence.
   Pires, an economist by training, has named a 20-member team dominated
by  members of the ruling Social Renovation Party (PRS).
   The PRS, which won 37 of the 100 seats in the single-chamber parliament
in  1999, has been riven with dissent for months.
   The next election had not been due until the end of next year, but Yala
on  Friday brought the date forward. It is now expected to be held by
around mid-February.
   A crisis among members of the ruling elite became apparent in August
with tension especially between Yala and the previous prime minister,
Alamara Nhasse, both members of the PRS.

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