General
Batista Tagme Na Waie, also transliterated as
Batista Tagme Na Wai (1949 – March 1, 2009) was chief of staff of the
armyAn army An army An army (from Latin armata "armed (things)" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based Military of a nation. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
of
Guinea-BissauThe Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in western Africa, and one of the smallest states in continental Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
until his assassination in 2009.
Na Waie was born in
CatióCatió is a city in Guinea-Bissau. It is the capital of Tombali Region.Population 9,217 ....
. A participant in the
juntaA military dictatorship is a form of government wherein the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
that overthrew
João Bernardo VieiraJoão Bernardo "Nino" Vieira was the President of Guinea-Bissau from 1980 to 1999 and again from 2005 to 2009. After seizing power in 1980, Vieira ruled for 19 years, and he won a multiparty presidential election in 1994. He was ousted at the end of the 1998–1999 civil war and went into exile...
in the 1990s and a veteran of the
Guinea-Bissau War of IndependenceGuinea-Bissau War of Independence was an armed conflict and national liberation struggle in Guinea-Bissau between 1963 and 1974.- Background :...
, Na Waie was a member of the
Balanta ethnic groupThe Balanta , meaning literally "those who resist", are an ethnic group found in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Gambia. They are the largest ethnic group of Guinea-Bissau, representing more than one-quarter of the population...
. He had been appointed chief of staff as the result of the October 2004 murder of his predecessor,
Verissimo Correia SeabraVeríssimo Correia Seabra was a Guinea-Bissau soldier, known for leading a coup that deposed Kumba Ialá on September 14, 2003.- Biography :Correia Seabra was born in the capital city, Bissau, on February 16, 1947...
; IRIN has described him as a "consensus figure put forward by the military establishment which the government felt forced to accept".
A "bitter rival" of Vieira, both before the junta (having survived Vieira's
purgeIn history and political science, a purge is the removal of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, from another organization, or from society as a whole. Purges can be peaceful or violent; many will end with the imprisonment or exile of those purged, but in some...
s of the Guinea-Bissau military in the 1980s) and after Vieira's return to power, Na Waie reported surviving an assassination attempt in January 2009, when a militia assigned to the presidential palace opened fire on his staff car; the militia denied that this had been an assassination attempt.
On March 1, 2009, Na Waie was killed by an explosion in the headquarters of the Guinea-Bissau military.
General
Batista Tagme Na Waie, also transliterated as
Batista Tagme Na Wai (1949 – March 1, 2009) was chief of staff of the
armyAn army An army An army (from Latin armata "armed (things)" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based Military of a nation. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
of
Guinea-BissauThe Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in western Africa, and one of the smallest states in continental Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
until his assassination in 2009.
Na Waie was born in
CatióCatió is a city in Guinea-Bissau. It is the capital of Tombali Region.Population 9,217 ....
. A participant in the
juntaA military dictatorship is a form of government wherein the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
that overthrew
João Bernardo VieiraJoão Bernardo "Nino" Vieira was the President of Guinea-Bissau from 1980 to 1999 and again from 2005 to 2009. After seizing power in 1980, Vieira ruled for 19 years, and he won a multiparty presidential election in 1994. He was ousted at the end of the 1998–1999 civil war and went into exile...
in the 1990s and a veteran of the
Guinea-Bissau War of IndependenceGuinea-Bissau War of Independence was an armed conflict and national liberation struggle in Guinea-Bissau between 1963 and 1974.- Background :...
, Na Waie was a member of the
Balanta ethnic groupThe Balanta , meaning literally "those who resist", are an ethnic group found in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Gambia. They are the largest ethnic group of Guinea-Bissau, representing more than one-quarter of the population...
. He had been appointed chief of staff as the result of the October 2004 murder of his predecessor,
Verissimo Correia SeabraVeríssimo Correia Seabra was a Guinea-Bissau soldier, known for leading a coup that deposed Kumba Ialá on September 14, 2003.- Biography :Correia Seabra was born in the capital city, Bissau, on February 16, 1947...
; IRIN has described him as a "consensus figure put forward by the military establishment which the government felt forced to accept".
A "bitter rival" of Vieira, both before the junta (having survived Vieira's
purgeIn history and political science, a purge is the removal of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, from another organization, or from society as a whole. Purges can be peaceful or violent; many will end with the imprisonment or exile of those purged, but in some...
s of the Guinea-Bissau military in the 1980s) and after Vieira's return to power, Na Waie reported surviving an assassination attempt in January 2009, when a militia assigned to the presidential palace opened fire on his staff car; the militia denied that this had been an assassination attempt.
On March 1, 2009, Na Waie was killed by an explosion in the headquarters of the Guinea-Bissau military. While witnesses reported seeing a rocket-propelled grenade, aides to Na Waie reported that a bomb was detonated under a staircase as Na Waie was heading to his office.
In the early hours of the next day, Vieira was killed, apparently by troops loyal to Na Waie; a military representative subsequently denied allegations that Vieira's death had been a retaliation. Army spokesman Zamora Induta did, however, say that Vieira had been involved in Na Waie's assassination. An army officer said on March 5 that Na Waie had found a stash of
cocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system and an appetite suppressant...
weighing 200 kilograms at an army hangar about a week before he was killed. His funeral was held at the Military Club in Bissau on March 8. On March 26, it was reported that three senior officers — Colonel Arsene Balde, Colonel Abdoulaye Ba, and Brigadier General Melcias Fernandes — had been arrested in the preceding days for involvement in Na Waie's death.