Artur Sanhá

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António Artur Sanhá (born 1965) was the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 28 September 2003 to 10 May 2004. Sanhá, the secretary-general of the Party for Social Renewal (PRS), was made Interior Minister in February 2000, shortly after Kumba Ialá, also of the PRS, was sworn in as president.^[1] Despite pressure from the PRS, Ialá did not name Sanhá as prime minister to replace Caetano N'Tchama, who was dismissed from that position in March 2001. Sanhá was removed from his position as interior minister by Ialá in August 2001 following suspicions regarding the death of a woman with whom Sanhá was said to have been romantically involved, although Ialá did not give a reason for Sanhá's dismissal.^[2] Sanhá said that he did not know the woman, but her family said that people close to Sanhá had forced her into having an abortion.^[3]

After Ialá was ousted in a military coup on 14 September 2003, the military junta chose Sanhá as prime minister of the transitional government, although its choice of Sanhá was opposed by 15 of the 17 involved political parties because Sanhá was not a political independent;^[4]^[5] concerns also remained about the 2001 incident.^[4] Sanhá left office after parliamentary elections were held in March 2004 and a new government under PAIGC leader Carlos Gomes Júnior took office in May.

In June 2005, during protests by Ialá's supporters alleging fraud in the first round of the presidential election, in which Ialá officially took third place, police fired on the protesters and arrested Sanhá, who was leading the march and was found by police to be carrying a loaded gun.^[6]^[7]