Kumba Yala Pays Workers After Tripoli Trip

President Kumba Yala returned to Bissau after spending four days in 
Libya and gave $ 1.350 million to his Finance Minister for the payment 
of salary arrears. No indication was given as to the source of the 
funds. "Our relations with Libya are at their peak, Yalla announced on 
his arrival from Tripoli. Receiving in his office members of his 
government, representatives of the armed forces and trade unions, the 
Bissau Guinean Head of State handed over a suitcase containing $ 1.350 
million to Finance Minister Rui Barros who displayed the green notes to 
the press.

According to President Yala, the money is solely for the settlement of 
salary arrears for five ministries (Interior, Health, Education, 
Communication and Former Commandants). He warned that any discrepancy 
would be severely dealt with. He earlier on paid $500,000 to the armed 
forces for their salary arrears. Guinea-Bissau was said to have been on 
the brink of social upheaval with regular strikes and a quasi-permanent 
tension. Many sources concur that the arrival of the dollars shown on 
TV affords a ball of oxygen to Kumba Yala’s regime.

 
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