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People shopping and selling in the local market. Photo by Vika Chartier- Unsplash

Top 10 Most Famous People from Guinea Bissau

Guinea-Bissau is a West African country. The primarily flat country on the Atlantic coast is a little hilly further inland. The name Guinea is still debatable; it could be a corruption of an Amazigh (Berber) word meaning “land of the blacks.” The country also utilizes the title of its capital, Bissau, to differentiate itself from Guinea, its eastern and southern neighbor.

1.Bruma

Football, Men, 1st Bundesliga, RB Leipzig – Hertha BSC; “Bruma” Armindo Tue Na Bangna (RB Leipzig, 17); Portrait, single frame. Photo by Steffen Prößdorf- Wikimedia commons

Armindo Tué Na Bangna was born on the 24th of October 1994, nicknamed Bruma, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Turkish club Fenerbahçe on loan from PSV. His greatest attributes are his technique and pace.

2.Amílcar Lopes Cabral

Amílcar Lopes Cabral was an agronomist, nationalist leader and pioneer and secretary-general of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde; PAIGC) who contributed in Guinea-Bissau getting its independence. He was a prominent African thinker of the twentieth century.

Cabral attended university in Lisbon after obtaining his primary and secondary education in Cape Verde, where he assisted in creating the Centro de Estudos Africanos, an association of Lusophone African students that entailed future Angolan president Agostinho Neto.

Cabral and some of his African classmates established political philosophies about colonialism and liberation while in Lisbon. Cabral was hired as an agronomist by the Portuguese colonial authorities after graduating in 1950.

In the early 1950s, he travelled extensively in Portuguese Guinea to carry out an assessment of the land and its resources, which allowed him to socialize with individuals from different cultures who resided in the colony.

Cabral was also thinking about national liberation for African colonies at the time. In September 1956, he and five partners including a brother, Luís and Aristides Pereira—formed the PAIGC, and in December of that year, he and Neto cofounded an Angolan liberation movement.

Cabral quickly rose to prominence as the PAIGC’s leader. The team formed early political challenges to colonial power in the form of worker strikes, which demanded higher wages and better working conditions.

The Pidjiguiti Massacre in August 1959 but when the Portuguese opened fire on protesters during a dockworkers’ strike, proved to the PAIGC that a fresh view was required. Resistance activity was later relocated to the countryside and adapted to use violent methods.

Earlier on in 1963, Cabral led his party into an open war for Portuguese Guinea’s independence, and by the late 1960s, Cabral was the de facto ruler of the portions of Portuguese Guinea not populated by Portuguese military troops. As a first step toward independence, he formed the Guinean People’s National Assembly in 1972.

Cabral was assassinated outside his home in Conakry, Guinea, where his party had established its headquarters, in January 1973. Inocêncio Kani, a disgruntled PAIGC guerrilla war veteran suspected of working with Portuguese agents, assassinated him.

The PAIGC unilaterally declared Guinea-independence Bissau’s in September of that year, a status that was formally achieved on September 10, 1974, with Cabral’s brother Luís as the new president.

3.Amarildo Almeida

Amarildo Almeida was born on 15th March 1976 was a sprinter from Guinea-Bissau. Almedia participated in the men’s 100m at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He also participated in the 100-meter dash at the 1999 World Athletics Championships.

4.Yannick Djaló

Yannick Djalo, Houston Dynamo vs San Jose Earthquakes, Buck Shaw Stadium, 25 May 2014. Photo by Noah Salzman- Wikimedia commons

Yannick dos Santos Djaló was born on May 5, 1986 is a Portuguese professional footballer who primarily plays as a forward however, can also play as a winger.

He spent the majority of his professional career with Sporting after joining the club’s youth system at the age of 15, appearing in over 150 official games and winning four big titles. He joined Benfica in 2012 and won the Portuguese League Cup that season however, he only made five performances in 4 and a half years, spending the majority of his time on loan.

Djaló received 22 youth caps for Portugal before making his only senior performance was in 2010.

5.Fatumata Djau Baldé

Fatumata Djau Baldé was the Foreign Minister of Guinea-Bissau until the September 2003 military takeover.

She has held several positions in Guinea Bissau’s government. She has served as Secretary of State for Social Solidarity and Employment, Tourism Minister, and Foreign Minister. She served as Foreign Minister in the government of elected President Kumba Yala however, her tenure was cut short by a military takeover in September 2003.

6.Rafael Paula Barbosa

Rafael Paula Barbosa (from around 1926 to 2nd January 2007) was a political activist in Guinea-Bissau. He was born to a Guinean mother and a Cape Verdean father in Safim, near Bissau.

In the time preceding to the violent battle for independence, he started working as a civil construction engineer in Portuguese Guinea and became deeply engaged in the creation of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde. He enlisted the help of others to form the party, which was then sent to Senegal or the Republic of Guinea for training.

During the 1960s independence war, he was shortly detained by the Portuguese Secret Police. After serving as the PAIGC’s first President while its leader, Amlcar Cabral, was Secretary-General, Barbosa left the party following Cabral’s assassination in 1973, in which Barbosa was suspected of complicity.

After independence, he was detained again and sentenced to death however, the sentence was reduced to life in prison by the first President, Luis Cabral. Following “Nino” Vieira’s coup d’état on November 14, 1981, he was temporarily released. He was not released until Guinea-Bissau was democratized in the 1990s.

He later founded his own political party, the Social Democratic Front (Portuguese: Frente Democratica Social, FDS), which included retired President Kumba Ialá.

He passed away in a hospital in Dakar, Senegal, after receiving rigorous medical treatment. Helena Paula Barbosa, his daughter, became a government minister.

7.Suzi Barbosa

Suzi Carla Barbosa (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guinea Bissau); Nicolas Sarkozy (Former President of the French Republic); Umaro Sissoco Embaló (President of the Republic of Guinea Bisau); Kamal Benali (President of Delta Forces); Robert Bourgi (Lawyer). Photo by En75- Wikimedia commons

Suzi Carla Barbosa is a Bissau-Guinean political figure, parliamentary member and project manager of the Guinea-Bissau Committee of Women Parliamentarians.

Suzi Barbosa is an activist for women’s involvement in Guinea-national Bissau’s political matters. She was a member of the feminist movement in Guinea-Bissau, where women from the Bafatá Region prevented voting in elections if women were not on the ballot.

“Guinea-Bissau has a predominantly female population, and it is very unfortunate to see that they do not have the similar chances as men, particularly in decision-making positions; if they did, maybe the country’s condition in regards to stability would have been different.”

She was a representative at the first Women’s Circle of the National Assembly conference in Quebec City in 2017, which brought together politicians from French-speaking countries to develop potential for female world leaders.

In 2016, she served as Guinea-Secretary Bissau’s of State for International Cooperation and Communities.

She was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on July 3, 2019.

8.Luís Severino de Almeida Cabral

Luís Severino de Almeida Cabral was born on 11th April 1931 and died on the 30th of May 2009. He was a Bissau-Guinean politician who served as Guinea-first Bissau’s President. He was president from 1974 to 1980, when he was removed from power by a military dictatorship led by Joo Bernardo Vieira. Lus Cabral was Amlcar Cabral’s half-brother, and the two co-founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) in 1956.

9.José Câmnate na Bissign

Dom José Camnaté Na Bissign, Bishop of Bissau. Photo by Ansumane Só (VOA)- Wikimedia commons

José Câmnate na Bissign was born Mansôa, 28 May 1953 is a Roman Catholic bishop from Guinea-Bissau. He was Guinea-first Bissau’s native bishop, serving from 2000 to 2020.

He was 29 years old when he was ordained as a priest in Bissau on December 31, 1982. On October 15, 1999, he was assigned as the second bishop of the Diocese of Bissau following the death of Settimio Ferrazzetta. On February 12, 2000, he earned his episcopal consecration.

He has participated in the discussion between Guinea-various Bissau’s political and religious groups. He was a strong supporter of the Commission Justice and Peace as well as the Council for Ecumenical, Inter-Religious, and Human Dignity.

On November 11 July 2020, Pope Francis acknowledged his resignation.

10.Almami Moreira

Almami Samori da Silva Moreira was born in June 16th 1978 is a retired Guinean footballer who played as a midfielder. He is also a Portuguese citizen.

After beginning his career at Boavista, he went on to represent primarily Standard Liège and Partizan, as well as play professionally in four other countries.