Guinea Bissau's former military intelligence chief shot dead in bar The shooting came after peaceful campaigning and voting in a presidential election, which was set to replace president Malam Bacai Sanha, who died in a Paris hospital in January after a long illness. Gomes Junior is widely seen as favourite to win the poll, though he faces a tough challenge from Manuel Sherifo Nhamadjo, who dropped out of the ruling party to run against him, and former President Kumba Yala, who shares the Balanta ethnicity with a quarter of the population and most of the army. Gomes Junior's rivals have accused him of fomenting instability and tolerating increased drugs-running during his time as premier - a period that saw multiple political assassinations including the killing of President Joao Bernardo Vieira in 2009. Gomes Junior has denied the accusations, and his outspoken opposition to drugs has helped win him tacit support from foreign partners like the United States and Angola. General Antonio Indjai took over from Induta as head of the armed forces in the 2010 mutiny, an incident that led the European Union to withdraw its support for Guinea Bissau's security sector reform effort. Guinea Bissau, a country of 1.6 million people whose main official export is cashew nuts, is rich in natural resources but has failed to draw investment due to near-constant turmoil since independence from Portugal in 1974. Angola, which is seeking to develop a bauxite mine and build a deepwater port in the country's south, has devoted millions of dollars and more than a hundred troops to help Guinea Bissau reform its notoriously unruly army.