Camara evacuated to Morocco
2009-12-04 14:43
Conakry - Guinea's president is being medically evacuated to Morocco for treatment after he was shot during an assassination attempt nearly a year after he seized power in a coup, a retired diplomat said on Friday.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the information, is close to the West African country's ruling junta.
Earlier on Friday, a spokesperson had said that President Moussa "Dadis" Camara was being treated by a team of doctors who arrived overnight from neighbouring Senegal. However, Communication Minister Idrissa Cherif said Camara was "walking and talking and is doing fine".
Several people, though, said the president had suffered a bullet wound to the head. Guinea's communication minister denied those reports, saying the doctors had conducted "a simple check-up".
The government had earlier confirmed that Camara was shot on Thursday by Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite, who commands the presidential guard. A rift had opened between the two following a September massacre during which presidential guard members killed at least 157 unarmed civilians at a pro-democracy rally.
Serious condition
"Everything is under control. The doctors are here for a simple check-up," Cherif said. "(Camara) is doing fine ... He has a slight wound on his shoulder. It's nothing to worry about."
However, a senior civil servant who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the press said he had spoken to members of the military who confirmed that Camara was in serious condition from a head wound. The retired diplomat said that he, too, had spoken to the coup leader's aides who said that Camara was bleeding from the head.
The 45-year-old Camara was shot while at a military camp housing hundreds of men under Toumba's control, Cherif said. Camara had driven to Camp Koundara to confront Toumba after Toumba went to a downtown police station and released officers that were loyal to him but whom Camara had ordered arrested, said Cherif. He confirmed that Toumba is still at large along with a contingent of his men.
Thursday's attack underscored the deep divide inside the military clique that grabbed control of the West African nation last December following the death of the country's longtime dictator, Lansana Conte. Camara had initially promised to quickly organise elections, but then reversed course and began hinting that he planned to run for office, prompting a massive protest September 28.
Charges of crimes
Toumba is accused of having led the presidential guard that opened fire on the peaceful demonstrators, who had gathered inside the capital's national stadium. Human rights groups say at least 157 people were killed and dozens of women were raped by the red beret-wearing presidential guard who also assaulted them with bayonets, rifle butts and with pieces of wood.
At least 20 women were kidnapped and driven away in military trucks to private villas where they were drugged and videotaped while they were being gang-raped over several days, according to three survivors as well as several human rights groups. The government has denied all wrongdoing and blamed opposition leaders for going ahead with a banned protest.
The massacre led the European Union and the African Union to impose sanctions on Guinea, including on top members of the junta, who are now the subject of a travel ban. Sources inside the military say that it deeply aggravated divisions that were already present and has led to the clique fracturing further. Members of the junta, including Toumba, are believed to lead private armies that are faithful only to them.
A UN mission was in Conakry this week investigating the massacre and interviewed top military commanders in order to try to understand how the order to kill protesters was given. Some may face charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
Corrupt officials
Hardly anyone had heard of Camara until his men broke down the glass doors of the state TV station on December 23, 2008. He announced that the constitution had been dissolved and that the country was under the rule of a military junta.
Many began to question his tactics when he authorised raids on the homes of well-known members of the dead president's inner circle. Camara claimed the raids were intended to recoup money and property stolen from the state, but many complained of heavy-handed tactics.
The military junta also put top government officials on TV, where they detailed their roles in a lucrative international cocaine trade in Guinea. Guinea and other West African countries in recent years emerged as key transhipment points for cocaine bound from South America to Europe.
Camara's arrests of corrupt officials won him admiration, but he has been criticised for his love of the spotlight and his insistence on broadcasting rambling, multi-hour tirades. Camara generally sleeps all day only to emerge at night, and has a waiting room adorned with 6-foot (1.8-meter)-tall portraits of himself.
Since winning independence half a century ago from France, Guinea has been pillaged by its ruling elite. Its 10 million people are among the world's poorest, even though its soil has diamonds, gold, iron and half the world's reserves of the raw material used to make aluminium.
- SAPA