BEIJING, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Guinea-Bissau's Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior was briefly detained on Thursday by military officers amid renewed fears of coup in the West African country.

Instability including the 1998-1999 civil war has haunted the country of a population of 1.5 million since its independence from Portugal 35 years ago.

The following is a chronology of key political events in Guinea-Bissau since 1980:

In November 1980, then prime minister Joao Bernardo Vieira ousted then president Luis Cabral, and took control of the country as president of the military-dominated revolutionary council.

In August 1994, Vieira won the first multiparty presidential election.

In June 1998, Vieira dismissed the army's chief of staff Ansumane Mane. The latter mounted a coup which failed and led to a civil war

In May 1999, Vieira was ousted by Mane's force. The president of the National Assembly (parliament), Malam Bacai Sanha, was named president of the transitional government.

In November 1999, Kumba Yala was elected as new president.

In September 2003, General Verissimo Seabra Correia launched a non-violent coup and arrested Yala. Henrique Rosa was named head of state.

In October 2004, several soldiers shoot Seabra to death.

In July 2005, Vieira returned and won the presidential election. He took office in October.

In March 2009, Vieira and army chief of staff Tagme Na Waie were assassinated. President of the National Assembly, Raimundo Pereira, assumed the interim presidency.

In June 2009, three senior politicians including a presidential candidate were killed by military police in what authorities said was a foiled coup plot.

In July 2009, Malam Bacai Sanha won the presidency.