Coup

Military coups in Africa are not all that uncommon. Sometimes there actually an improvement. I don't have enough information to know whether this is the case this time, but I thought this story was worth mentioning:

LISBON, Portugal - Soldiers ousted the president of the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau on Sunday, taking advantage of widespread discontent with his rule to seize power in a bloodless coup.

The army chief of staff, Gen. Verissimo Correia Seabre, declared himself in charge of the country after the early-morning arrest of President Kumba Yala. A dawn-to-dusk curfew was imposed, and soldiers patrolled the streets of the capital Bissau with automatic weapons and grenade launchers.

Several African countries including Nigeria and Senegal condemned the coup, as did Portugal, the former colonial ruler. But some residents expressed relief as much as alarm.

[...]

"The situation there is calm and under control," Portuguese Foreign Ministry spokesman Fernando Lima said, citing information provided by the Portuguese embassy in Bissau. "There were no acts of violence, no shots fired and no injuries."

Seabre said the army decided to end what he called Yala's misrule. Yala has reneged four times in the past year on his pledge to hold elections, most recently just last week. In his nearly three years of office, the country has suffered steep economic decline. Yala alleged he foiled a military plot to overthrow him in 2001.