A presidential candidate in Guinea- Bissau has been assassinated, well-informed sources told Xinhua on Friday.

Baciro Dabo, the minister of territorial administration, was killed on Friday morning at his residence in Bissau, the capital of the tiny West African country, by "men in uniform" and "in the same way former president Nino Vieira" was murdered, they said.

Dabo, 50, was a veteran of the ruling Independence of Guinea- Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). He was killed after posing as an independent candidate three weeks before the June 28 presidential elections.

A total of 13 candidates were in the race before the latest assassination, which followed the twin killings of President Vieira and his military chief of staff Gen. Batista Tagme Na Wai, his long-time political rival in early March.

Soldiers killed President Vieira on March 2 in a revenge attack hours after an explosion killed Na Wai, who had accused the presidential guard of attempting to assassinate him only weeks before.

Analysts said that President Vieira from the minority Papel ethnic group had tense relationship with the army dominated by officers from the majority Balanta ethnic group, which includes Na Wai who had previously joined a military coup against the country's longest serving president.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, a power broker in conflicts of neighboring Guinea-Bissau, warned after the killings that the military factions might move to an ethnic war if they fail to reconcile themselves.

The assassinations of both men prompted a mission of the Economic Community of West African States in Guinea-Bissau to ensure the restoration of constitutional order.

Parliament Speaker Raimundo Pereira took oath on March 3 as the country's interim president. Under the Constitution, Pereira serves as interim head of state until a new leader is elected.

Guinea-Bissau has long suffered coups and coup attempts since its independence from Portugal. The country of 1.5 million population is among the poorest in the world, being ranked the 175th out of 177 nations in the U.N. Development Program's Human Development Index.

With a jagged Atlantic coastline, the country is being used by traffickers as a major hub for the flow of cocaine from Latin America to Europe.

In November, Guinea-Bissau held a legislative election, in which President Vieira-backed PAIGC won a landslide victory to maintain its traditionally dominant position. The vote was then widely seen as a hope to bring the country out of instability and the danger of becoming a lawless "Narco-state".

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2009)