Kumba Ialá facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kumba Ialá
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Ialá in 2009
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| 3rd President of Guinea-Bissau | |
| In office 17 February 2000 – 14 September 2003 |
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| Prime Minister | Caetano N'Tchama Faustino Imbali Alamara Nhassé Mário Pires |
| Preceded by | Malam Bacai Sanhá (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Veríssimo Correia Seabra (Chairman of the Military Committee for the Restoration of Constitutional and Democratic Order) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 March 1953 Bula, Portuguese Guinea |
| Died | 4 April 2014 (aged 61) Bissau, Guinea-Bissau |
| Cause of death | Cardiac arrest |
| Resting place | Fortaleza de São José da Amura |
| Political party | African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (Before 1992) Party for Social Renewal (1992–2014) |
| Spouse | Elisabete Ialá |
| Alma mater | Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon |
Kumba Ialá Embaló, also known as Yalá, was a politician from Guinea-Bissau. He was born on March 15, 1953, and passed away on April 4, 2014. He served as the president of Guinea-Bissau from February 17, 2000, until September 14, 2003. He was removed from office in a peaceful military coup. Ialá was a member of the Balanta ethnic group and led the Social Renewal Party (PRS). In 2008, he became a Muslim and changed his name to Mohamed Ialá Embaló. He was also the person who started the Party for Social Renewal.
Early Life and Education
Kumba Ialá was born into a farming family in a place called Bula, in the Cacheu Region. This was on March 15, 1953. When he was a teenager, he joined the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). This group was fighting for Guinea-Bissau to become independent from Portuguese rule.
He went to the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon to study theology. He also started studying philosophy but did not finish that degree. Later, in Bissau, he studied law at the Law School of the University Amílcar Cabral. After finishing his studies, he became the director of the National Lyceum Kwame N'Krumah. There, he also taught philosophy and psychology.
Ialá was very good with languages. He could speak Portuguese, Crioulo, Spanish, French, and English. He could also read Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.
Political Journey
Kumba Ialá was part of a PAIGC group that visited Moscow to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. However, in 1989, he was removed from the party. This happened because he asked for more democratic changes.
In March 1991, Ialá helped create a new political group called the Democratic Social Front (FDS) with Rafael Barbosa. Then, on January 14, 1992, Ialá left the FDS and started his own party, the Social Renewal Party (PRS).
First Presidential Elections
The first presidential election where more than one party could run happened on July 3, 1994. The president at the time, João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, who was from the PAIGC party, won 46.20% of the votes. Kumba Ialá came in second, getting 21.88% of the votes. Since no one got more than 50% of the votes, a second round of voting was held on August 7. Other opposition parties supported Ialá, but Vieira still won by a small amount (52.02% to 47.98%).
Even though election observers said the election was fair, Ialá said there were problems and that his supporters were scared. The Supreme Court did not agree with his claims, and the election results were confirmed. On August 20, he accepted the results but said his party would not join the new government.
Becoming President
After a difficult civil war and the removal of President Vieira, a new presidential election took place on November 28, 1999. In the first round, Kumba Ialá got the most votes with 38.81%. The temporary president, Malam Bacai Sanhá, from the PAIGC, came in second with 23.37%.
Before the second round of campaigning began, Ialá was briefly in the hospital on December 29, 1999, due to high blood pressure. He went to Lisbon for medical care. After returning to Guinea-Bissau in early January 2000, he started his campaign on January 9. He said he was healthy and even challenged Sanhá to a debate. The second round of voting was held on January 16, 2000. Ialá won easily, getting 72% of the votes. He officially became the President of Guinea-Bissau on February 17.
In May 2000, Ialá stepped down as the leader of the PRS party. However, he still had a lot of influence within the party.
Leading the Country
As president, Kumba Ialá often changed ministers and other important officials in his government. There were worries about how the government was handling money. This led to protests, strikes, and the International Monetary Fund stopping its financial help.
Ialá also had a difficult relationship with General Ansumane Mané. Mané was the leader of the group that had removed President Vieira in the 1998–99 civil war. In November 2000, Ialá tried to promote several military officers. But Mané said that Ialá's list of promotions was not what they had agreed upon. Mané then announced that he was taking control of the armed forces. He canceled Ialá's promotions and replaced the chief of staff, Veríssimo Correia Seabra. This led to fighting, and Mané was killed in a clash with government forces about a week later, on November 30.
In 2001, the National Assembly approved a new draft constitution. Ialá did not sign it into law. Instead, he sent it back to parliament with suggestions to give the president more power. In December 2001, Ialá's government said they stopped a plan for a coup, though some opposition groups doubted if such a plan existed. After this, several members of opposition parties were arrested and held without charges.
In June 2002, Ialá accused The Gambia of causing trouble in Guinea-Bissau. The Gambian government denied this. Ialá even threatened to invade The Gambia. In November 2002, Ialá closed down the parliament. He appointed Mário Pires as a temporary prime minister and called for early elections in February 2003. However, these elections were delayed many times: first to April, then July, then October. Some people thought Ialá was trying to change the laws so he could stay in power.
The 2003 Coup
On September 12, 2003, the election committee announced that they could not finish registering voters in time for the parliamentary elections planned for October 12. This, along with a struggling economy, political problems, and soldiers being unhappy about not getting paid, led to a peaceful coup on September 14.
Ialá was arrested and placed under house arrest. General Veríssimo Correia Seabra, who led the coup, said that Ialá's government was "incapable" and that this was why they took over. Ialá publicly announced that he was resigning on September 17. A political agreement signed that month said he could not be involved in politics for five years. A temporary government, led by businessman Henrique Rosa and PRS party leader Artur Sanhá, was set up at the end of September.
On March 8, 2004, before the legislative elections, Ialá was released from house arrest. He said he would join the PRS election campaign, even though he was officially banned from political activity. In the election on March 28, the PRS won 35 out of 100 seats. This made it the second-largest party in the National People's Assembly, after the PAIGC.
After the Presidency
On March 26, 2005, the PRS party chose Ialá as their candidate for the presidential election on June 19. This happened even though he was officially banned from politics for five years. Ialá gave his application to the Supreme Court on April 11. He argued that his agreement to stay out of politics was not valid because he signed it at his home, not in his office. The Supreme Court allowed him to run in the election on May 10. Five judges agreed, and one disagreed. They decided that Ialá had resigned before the temporary rules that banned him from politics were signed. So, those rules should not apply to him in a way that would hurt his interests.
Soon after, on May 15, Ialá said he was taking back his resignation as President and would return to office to finish his term. This made the country's political situation more tense. A rally of some of Ialá's supporters two days later was broken up by police using tear gas.
In late May, ten days after saying he was taking back his resignation, he entered the presidential palace at night with armed men. They stayed for about four hours before leaving, according to the army.
According to official results, Ialá came in third in the June 19 election with 25% of the votes. He was behind Malam Bacai Sanhá and Nino Vieira, so he could not be in the second round of voting. Ialá said he actually came in first, with about 38% of the votes, and that the result was fake. At least four people were reported killed when Ialá's supporters clashed with police after the results were announced.
Ialá went to Senegal to talk with Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, along with Vieira and Sanhá. On June 27, he said at a press conference that he accepted the result for the sake of peace and democracy, even though he still claimed to have won. Ialá said he "rejected violence on principle" and believed he would become president again. He noted that his opponents were older than him "and tomorrow they will disappear."
On July 2, Ialá announced he supported Vieira's campaign in the second round. He called Vieira "a symbol of the construction of the Guinean state and of national unity because he proclaimed our independence in the hills of Boe." He also said Vieira could "be relied upon to defend our national independence, to oppose neo-colonialism, to build the republic and promote peace, stability and above all, national reconciliation." This support was surprising to many, given Ialá's strong dislike for Vieira in past years. Some of Ialá's supporters were reportedly very unhappy with this decision. The second round, held on July 24, resulted in Vieira's victory.
On October 27, 2006, Ialá returned to Guinea-Bissau after living in Morocco for a year. On November 12, he was elected as President of the PRS with about 70% of the votes at the party's third meeting. He defeated Alberto Nambeia, though some in the PRS disagreed with his re-election. He said the government of prime minister Aristides Gomes was "illegitimate and illegal" and should be removed, with early parliamentary elections held.
In May 2007, a group within the PRS who did not support Ialá asked for the third meeting to be canceled. The Regional Court of Bissau then canceled the meeting's decisions and removed Ialá from the party leadership. However, on August 23, 2007, the Supreme Court of Guinea-Bissau changed that decision and put Ialá back as the party leader.
After spending more time in Morocco, Ialá came back to Bissau on July 7, 2008. He did this to register for the November 2008 parliamentary election. At that time, he predicted that the PRS would win the election with most of the seats. Soon after his return, he became a Muslim in the city of Gabú on July 18, 2008, and took the name Mohamed Ialá Embaló. He also learned to speak Arabic. In the November 2008 election, the PAIGC officially won most of the seats, beating the PRS. Ialá first said the official results were wrong and claimed fraud. However, he later accepted the PAIGC's victory and said the PRS would be a helpful opposition.
President Nino Vieira was killed by soldiers on March 2, 2009. In April, the PRS chose Ialá as its candidate for the June 2009 presidential election. Some people in the party who did not like Ialá's "monopoly system" suggested Baltazar Lopes Fernandes as a candidate instead, but they were not successful.
Death
Kumba Ialá had a "sudden cardiopulmonary arrest" and passed away on the night of April 3–4, 2014. He was 61 years old. He is survived by his wife, Elisabete Ialá, and their children.
See also
In Spanish: Kumba Ialá para niños
