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Guinea-Bissau president in Senegal for medical care

By AFP
Senegal Malam Bacai Sanha.  By Joao Cortesao AFPFile
SEP 1, 2011 LISTEN
Malam Bacai Sanha. By Joao Cortesao (AFP/File)

BISSAU (AFP) - President Malam Bacai Sanha of Guinea-Bissau has been evacuated to neighbouring Senegal for medical care, official and diplomatic sources told AFP, without giving details of his state of health.

Sanha, 64, fell ill on Wednesday morning and was unable to take part in the prayers marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. "He has been evacuated to Senegal," said a member of Sanha's cabinet late Wednesday.

The news was confirmed to AFP by a diplomatic source who said that Sanha was in the Senegalese capital Dakar and asked not to be named. "But I don't know whether he will stay (in Dakar) or whether he will go on in France," the source added.

Since he was elected president of the small west African country in 2009, Sanha has made several trips abroad for health care. The last trip of this kind was in July.

A source among Sanha's aides recalled that he had been treated at the French military hospital, the Val-de-Grace, in Paris. Sanha has also frequently been flown to Dakar.

Nobody close to the president gave any details of his illness.

In December 2009, when he was hospitalised in Paris, Sanha himself said: "There's talk of a fall of haemoglobin levels in my blood. (...) It's true that I also suffer from diabetes, but that's not as serious as some people want to make believe."

Sanha added that he "been on a drip for a long time".

© 2011 AFP

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