'Grandiose' funeral for Conte

2008-12-26 07:55

Conakry - The leader of a coup vowed to hold a "grandiose funeral" on Friday for Guinea's late dictator, whose death this week threw this impoverished West African nation into turmoil with military leaders seizing control and the prime minister surrendering.

Lansana Conte's body was to be brought on Friday morning to a stadium in the capital, Conakry, and then to the Grand Mosque before interment in a village.

Conte died on Monday after nearly a quarter-century in power, but there has been no funeral despite Muslim custom calling for burial within 24 hours of death.

"How can you leave the body of a president like that without taking care of it?" said the coup leader, Captain Moussa Camara, on Thursday. "I saw the body. It's not been treated. It leaves you to think we don't have a single ice room in all of Guinea."

Within hours of Conte's death, Camara's military group took control of the country's airwaves and announced the coup on Tuesday. Camara has since declared himself Guinea's interim leader and said a presidential election would be held in December 2010. He said he did not plan to run.

Conte - one of only two leaders in Guinea since the country's 1958 independence from France - took power in a 1984 military coup after his predecessor's death.

'We are all worried'

He ruled with a stern hand for more than two decades, winning presidential elections in 1993, 1998 and 2003 that were marred by accusations of fraud. In 2003, Conte secured 95% of the vote - an improbably high tally for a man many say was deeply unpopular.

The most serious recent challenge to Conte's rule came two years ago as demonstrators called for him to step down and Guinea descended into chaos. Conte responded by declaring martial law and sent tanks into the streets of the capital. Security forces killed dozens of demonstrators.

While some welcomed Camara as a break with the past, others worried he would follow Conte's example and try to cling to power.

"We are all worried. Although I'm a little bit happy, I'm mostly anxious," said Yahya Sako, a radio and TV repairman in the northern town of Siguiri. "Are these military people going to continue to hold on to power?"

In a broadcast Thursday, Camara had ordered Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare and other leaders of Guinea's government and armed forces to come out of hiding or be searched out.

Souare's mother, Aissatou, said in a telephone interview that her son was no longer prime minister and that he and the other ministers went to the barracks to avoid being hunted down.

Private radio station Liberte FM carried a live broadcast of him telling the coup leader: "We are at your disposal," in an apparent capitulation. The radio station reported that Camara said the government leaders were then free to leave, but it was not immediately clear where they were.

Souare had not been seen in public since Camara's group of junior officers declared the coup.

Later on Thursday, the head of all armed branches of Guinea's military, General Camara Diarra, also turned himself in at the barracks, as did the head of police and the head of customs.

In radio broadcasts, Camara said he had no intention of being a candidate in the December 2010 vote, but that his group wanted to re-establish order and crack down on corruption.

Against corruption

"I want to warn anyone who thinks they can try to corrupt me or my agents. Money is of no interest to us," Camara said. "There are already people who are starting to show up with bags of money to try to corrupt us. They've tried to give money to our wives and cars to our children. I will personally go after anyone who tries to corrupt us."

Under Guinea's constitution, parliament leader Aboubacar Sompare was next in line to be president. Sompare's whereabouts on Thursday were not known.

Guinea is the world's largest producer of bauxite, used to produce aluminium, and has gold, diamond and iron ore deposits. The nation, located at the confluence of several West African rivers, could generate enough electricity to power the region, some analysts say.

But Guinea's economy has rapidly deteriorated, and its 10 million people are among the world's poorest. A food exporter at independence from France, Guinea started importing food as it became crippled by corruption, inflation and high unemployment.

- AP