Ansumane Mané

Ansumane Mané (c. 1940 – 30 November 2000) was a Bissau-Guinean soldier who led a 1998 uprising against the government of President João Bernardo Vieira, which caused a brief, but bloody civil war.

Military background

Mané fought in the war of independence from Portugal alongside Vieira, and he backed Vieira when the latter seized power in a 1980 coup. In early 1998, he was suspended as Chief of Staff of the armed forces for allegedly smuggling arms to Casamance separatist rebels in Senegal. In a letter published in early April 1998, he in turn made the same accusation against the Minister of Defense, Samba Lamine Mané, and other officers; he also alleged that Vieira had permitted the arms smuggling and claimed that he was suspended as Chief of Staff in connection with "shady plan to mount a coup d'état".

Mané was subsequently dismissed by Vieira and replaced by General Humberto Gomes on 6 June 1998. He led a military rebellion against Vieira on the following day, resulting in the civil war. A peace agreement in November 1998 provided for a transitional national unity government and new elections.