A 21 October attack in Guinea-Bissau - when soldiers stormed barracks near Bissau's main airport, targeting military figures and leaving six people dead - has provoked more fear than the numerous coups and counter-coups of recent years. The transitional government branded the attack a coup attempt, and accused former colonial power Portugal of backing it in an attempt to propel former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, who is in exile there, back into power. Within days, alleged coup leader Captain Pansau N'Tchama was arrested on the island of Bolama, in the Bijagos archipelago. He is expected to face a military court later in the year.

On October 21, a violent incident occurred at an airbase outside Bissau, the capital of the small west African nation of Guinea-Bissau. Six people were reported killed, and gruesome images of bodies of accused assailants circulated on the internet. The day after two politicians critical of the country's transitional government and military were kidnapped and beaten. The violence took place against a backdrop of simmering doubts about the transition negotiated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), reports Global Voices Online.

Two politicians allied to Guinea-Bissau's ousted regime were severely beaten by soldiers after their arrest in the wake of an alleged coup, government and family members said. Yancuba Djola Indjai and Sylvestre Alves were "left for dead" about 50km from the capital one day after being seized by soldiers, a family member told AFP.

At least six people have been killed in a firefight after gunmen attacked an army barracks in Guinea-Bissau, military sources say. They say the army repelled the pre-dawn attack just outside the capital Bissau, killing six 'rebels'. The raid is likely to further heighten tensions in the West African nation, where the military seized power in a coup in April.

The Angolan government announced on Friday in Luanda that it concluded fully the withdrawal of Missang forces in the territory of Guinea Bissau. According to a press note from the Angolan government, which reached Angop, the process included a complete withdrawal by sea and air of all military personnel, as well as all military equipment and techniques of Missang.

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union and the Political and Security Committee of the European Union have called for 'concerted international action' and inclusive solution to the political crisis in Guinea-Bissau, worsened by the coup d'etat of 12 April. According to a statement, made available to PANA in Luanda, Angola, the call is part of the recommendations at the fifth annual advisory meeting between the two councils, held from 29 to 30 May, 2012, in the Belgian capital, Brussels.

Gambia's immigration ministry said on Tuesday 29 May Guinea-Bissau's former army chief, elections chief and ousted interior minister were being detained 'for security reasons' after fleeing to Banjul. Former army chief Jose Zamora Induta, elections commission chief Desejado Da Costa and Fernando Gomes, who was interior minister in the government overthrown in the country's latest coup last month, fled Guinea-Bissau over the weekend.

On the impact of the April 12 coup d’état on vulnerable communities

Guinea-Bissau's junta, parliament and a group of political parties have signed a roadmap aimed at ending the crisis created by the April 12 coup, officials told news agency AFP. The five-page document was signed by interim parliament speaker Braima Sori Djalo, the junta's top leader and 25 parties, including the Social Renovation Party, which was the main opposition party before the coup.

For Guinea-Bissau to achieve stability, there must be a return to constitutional order and a conclusion of presidential elections.

Guinea-Bissau coup leaders and west African mediators agreed on Friday that parliamentary speaker Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo will lead a transition government, ruling out the return of the toppled team. The Nigerian official leading the west African mediation effort said there was no chance the former government would be restored.

Statement of a group of National and International NGOs in Guinea Bissau concerning the Coup d'e tat of April 12, 2012.

The European Union has slapped an assets freeze and travel ban on six coup leaders in Guinea-Bissau. It said a ban on entering the EU and the assets freeze targeted "six persons that threaten the peace, security and stability of Guinea-Bissau. Their names will be listed in the EU Official Journal on May 4.

The junta in Guinea Bissau has 'unconditionally' released the two leaders seized nearly three weeks ago, state media said Saturday. The two men include the interim President Raimundo Pareira and the former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior. Both men have since been flown to the Ivorian capital, Abidjan.

The junta in Guinea Bissau on Saturday said its plan for a two-year transition had only been a suggestion, in an apparent climbdown following threats of UN and regional sanctions. Hours afterwards the opposition politician picked as transitional president by the junta told news agency AFP he was turning down what he described as an 'illegal' appointment. The junta has come under fire from the United Nations and the west African regional grouping Ecowas for failing to restore civilian rule after an April 12 military coup.

The African Union (AU) has suspended Guinea Bissau from the 54-member bloc with immediate effect, a senior AU official said. The Pan-African organization also threatened to impose more sanctions on the West African nation if the soldiers who seized power there failed to respond positively to the call to restore constitutional order. The decision to suspend Guinea Bissau's membership was taken by the AU's Peace and Security Council (PSC), after discussing the military coup in the country.

Angola is ending its military mission to help modernise the army in Guinea Bissau as a result of requests from unnamed 'sectors' in the country, Portuguese news agency Lusa quoted Angola's foreign minister as saying. Guinea Bissau is currently in the middle of two rounds of voting to elect a new president to replace Malam Bacai Sanha, who died in a Paris hospital in January after a long illness.

The runner-up in Sunday's presidential election in Guinea-Bissau has said he will not participate in a run-off vote. Former president Kumba Yala has claimed the first round of voting was unfair. Provisional results from Sunday's poll gave ex-prime minister Carlos Gomez 49 per cent of the vote out of nine candidates. Kumba Yala came in second with 23 per cent.

The small west African state of Guinea-Bissau went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president - an office no one has yet held for a full five-year term. Ahead of the voting, the appeals for calm multiplied from the international community well aware of the impoverished country's violent history. Since independence from Portugal in 1974, achieved after an 11-year armed conflict, three presidents have been overthrown by coups, and one was assassinated in office in 2009.

The death of the president of Guinea-Bissau, Malam Bacai Sanhá, could usher in a replay of the military uprisings that have set an unmistakable seal of instability on the political life of this small West African country. Sanhá, who died Monday 9 January in Paris, was one of the few surviving heroes of the liberation struggle against the Portuguese colonial army. That enabled him to play a mediating role in the frequent disputes for power in Guinea-Bissau, which gained independence in 1974.