Guinea-Bissau president admitted in Dakar hospital

DAKAR (AFP) - President Malam Bacai Sanha of Guinea-Bissau was under observation in a Dakar hospital Thursday a day after he fell ill in Bissau and was rushed here, his entourage said.

An aide said the 64-year-old Sanha was being treated for an unspecified ailment in the hospital's intensive care unit.

"He is there and undergoing treatment. Eminent people are taking care of him. He arrived in good condition and we hope that he returns also in good condition and in good health," said a Senegalese official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Sanha 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.

Since he was elected president of the small former Portuguese colony 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".