Francisco Fadul

Francisco José Fadul (born 15 December 1953) is a

Fadul was appointed as prime minister, at the head of a national unity government, on 3 December 1998. He had previously been political adviser to General Ansumane Mané, who led the rebellion against President João Bernardo Vieira in the Guinea-Bissau Civil War;^[1][2] Fadul also represented Mane's junta on the Executive Joint Commission, which was established following the Abuja Peace Accord in November 1998.^[1] Shortly after he was named prime minister, Fadul, in an interview with the Portuguese newspaper Expresso,^[3] accused President Vieira of murder, beatings, defamation, and humiliating leading political figures,^[2][3] and he called for Vieira to be tried for these alleged crimes.^[2] He also described Vieira as a dictator, claimed that Vieira was one of the world's richest men and that Vieira's wealth nearly matched the sum of Guinea-Bissau's foreign debt, and said that Vieira was primarily responsible for the development of animosity in the country. Fadul furthermore called for the return from exile of Luís Cabral, who was deposed by Vieira in 1980.^[3] Fadul said on 23 December that the primary focus of his government would be to deal with problems related to the military and to independence war veterans.^[4]

Fadul and his unity government, including five ministers and three secretaries of state chosen by Vieira and four ministers and four secretaries of state chosen by Mané's junta,

He was elected as the President of the PUSD on 18 December 2002, at a party convention.[10]

In May 2005, Fadul was initially barred from running for president in the 2005 presidential election by the Supreme Court, due to a technicality. According to the Court, two people who were indicated as signing Fadul's nomination papers had not confirmed signing them. A PUSD spokesman expressed the view that Fadul had actually been excluded because his father was Lebanese.^[11] The Court reversed itself and approved Fadul's candidacy shortly afterward, including him in its final list of candidates on 18 May.^[12] Running as the PUSD presidential candidate, he placed fourth with 2.85% of the vote in the election, held on 19 June 2005.^[13]

In 2006, Fadul requested that

Later, as President of the Tribunal of Accounts, Fadul said on 20 May 2008 that he planned to sue Prime Minister Cabi for libel and slander, saying that Cabi had falsely accused him of pocketing money. He also said that he wanted Cabi to explain his claim that being President of the Tribunal was incompatible with being the leader of a political party. Some have accused Fadul of taking advantage of his post as President of the Tribunal by attacking Cabi and his government, while he has said that he is merely controlling state accounts and complained that some ministries were ignoring the Tribunal's injunctions.[16]

After Fadul criticized the military and Prime Minister

Following the assassination of President Vieira, Fadul filed to run as the PADEC candidate in the June 2009 presidential election. On 14 May 2009, however, the Supreme Court announced that his candidacy had been rejected, along with seven others. Fadul's candidacy was rejected on the grounds that he was still President of the Tribunal of Accounts and a member of the Bar, which the Supreme Court judged to be legally incompatible with his presidential candidacy.^[19]