Guinea-Bissau’s prisons went without state-provided food for three weeks.

Some 200 detainees and prisoners in six detention centers in Guinea-Bissau have gone three weeks without food provided by a company hired by the government, a director of prisons told Lusa this Friday.

Cerno Sano Yalo explained that the company had stopped deliveries of food, alleging non-payment of a monthly amount of about 25,000 euros, which the Ministry of Finance allocates to two prisons and other detention centers in Bissau, one in Mansoa, in the center of the country. and another in Bafat, in the east.

The director of detention centers in Guinea-Bissau said the situation had returned to normal on Thursday 17 after the intervention of a “high-ranking official of the country” at the company, which claimed a two-month delay in payment. Ministry of Finance.

Cherno Yalo indicated that during the three weeks without food, Guinean detainees and prisoners in Bissau institutions received food from their families, while foreigners were supported by civil society organizations and churches.

At the Mansoa and Bafat detention centers, civil society organizations and ex-detainees provided meals, Halo said.

According to him, the director of prisons at the Ministry of Justice asked for “more attention” to be paid to detainees, noting that “everyone has the right to dignity,” even if freedom of movement is conditional on the law.

Cerno Yalo noted that the new Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Albino Gomes, is “personally dealing with this issue” since he arrived at the ministry last Monday, the 14th.

The official also indicated that among the prisoners and detainees on remand in six detention centers in Guinea-Bissau, about 200 people are currently being held.