Voters in Guinea-Bissau cast their ballots in a presidential runoff Sunday with the hope of ending months of political turmoil in the coup-prone West African state that is one of the world’s poorest nations. At a nearby polling station 31-year-old economics student Jair Fernandes Martins said the next president “will have the mission to make the country work”. – Years of crisis -Pereira, 56, a civil engineer by training, won 40.1 percent of the vote in the first round on November 24. The latest crisis erupted in 2015 when Vaz sacked Pereira as prime minister, a move that incensed the PAIGC. – Poverty, graft and cocaine -Latin American drug runners have exploited the instability and poverty in Guinea-Bissau to make the country a hub along the cocaine-smuggling route to Europe.

Source: Punch December 29, 2019 15:33 UTC