By Alberto Dabo
BISSAU, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Guinea-Bissau has suspended its navy chief in a further jolt to the country's establishment after the government and parliament were dissolved this week, an armed forces official and a security source said on Thursday.
President Joao Bernardo Vieira faces a constitutional crisis at the same time as the United Nations and Western donors are pressing for more decisive action to tackle Latin American gangs who smuggle cocaine via the country's shoreline and airstrips.
"The head of the Navy, (Rear-Admiral Jose) Americo Bubo Na Tchuto was suspended and disarmed yesterday by the head of the armed forces, General Batista Tagme Na Wai," said an official at the armed forces headquarters who declined to be named.
The official said Na Tchuto was under house arrest, which a United Nations official and a security source confirmed.
U.N. officials have piled pressure on Guinea-Bissau to combat drug smuggling since two planes suspected of being used by traffickers were seized at its main airport last month.
The seizures led to a stand-off between the judicial police tasked with combating drugs crimes and military personnel who tried to prevent police boarding the aircraft. No drugs were found but three Venezuelan nationals were arrested.
The airport's two senior air traffic control officials were also arrested, adding credence to suspicions among U.N. and international anti-drug enforcement officers that officials in Guinea-Bissau's establishment were involved in drug smuggling.
"Planes land and take off any old how...just as boats dock and leave again without the state authorities even being informed about it," Vieira said on Wednesday at the inauguration of new Prime Minister Carlos Correia.
Vieira appointed Correia, an old ally, to fill the power vacuum left when the Supreme Court ruled a law extending the assembly's mandate until elections in November was illegal.
That forced Vieira to dissolve parliament, effectively terminating the government's term of office too.
Na Tchuto's suspension is a new blow to stability in Guinea-Bissau, which has suffered a string of military coups and mutinies since it won independence in 1974 after a bitter and destructive war with colonial power Portugal.
Vieira ruled Guinea-Bissau for nearly 20 years before he was overthrown in a 1998-99 civil war. He returned from exile to win an election in 2005 in which his main opponent alleged fraud.
Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest countries on earth, its people surviving mostly through fishing or growing cashew nuts, although a planned $500 million Angolan-funded bauxite mine development could give the economy a boost in the coming years. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com) (Writing by Alistair Thomson; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
