General Tagme Na Waie said in an interview with Portuguese language daily Ultima Hora that he would not tolerate any member of the armed forces getting involved in the campaign.

"I will be very intransigent with any soldier, whatever his rank, who gets caught up in political campaigning. He will be brought to justice and kicked out," said the general.

He added that the military "will no longer be a springboard" for civilians seeking to use the army's influence for personal or political advantage.

"We have been sufficiently dragged through the mud by the press who have made the military the authors of the instability in the country, because of the connivance of certain of our elements with the political parties. All that now belongs to the past."

The army has long played the role of power-broker, with repeated military coups overthrowing elected governments since independence from Portugal in 1974.

President Joao Bernardo Vieira on Monday reiterated a call for reform of the defence and security forces.

"We all would love to have a disciplined, better trained army. That will happen through reform," he said.

The UN Security Council earlier this month called on the government and all political parties in Guinea-Bissau to ensure "transparent, free and fair elections" and to respect the result of the polls.

The council however said it remained "seriously concerned by the continued growth in drug trafficking as well as organised crime which threatens peace and security in Guinea-Bissau and in the (west African) sub-region."

Guinea-Bissau, one of the poorest countries in Africa, has become a hub for drug smuggling from Latin America to Europe, notably to its former colonial power Portugal.

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