'Unpaid' Guinea soldiers riot
2008-05-27 08:27
Conakry - Guinean soldiers claiming years of unpaid wages have captured their own chief-of-staff and taken to the streets of the capital Conakry, say witnesses and military sources.
Soldiers carried out the actions on Monday, in a repeat of anti-government protests staged by soldiers in May 2007 over the same issue.
Paratroops and Special Forces at the largest military base of Alfa Yaya Diallo, near the capital's international airport, unloaded their weapons in the morning for more than two hours in an echo of a May 2007 mutiny.
At about 14:30, they seized General Mamadou Sampil after he came to try to negotiate with them.
Gunfire was also heard for the first time since the protests started in Kindia, 130km further inland, which housed one of the country's biggest army garrisons.
Govt calls for calm
Local civilians had hurried to take cover in their homes, for fear of being hit by stray bullets.
Guinea's president, General Lansana Conte, called a meeting of his ministers and top military officers at the presidential palace in Conakry on Monday. It ran for four and a half hours, well into the evening.
In a statement issued after Monday's meeting and read out on television, the government called for calm and asked for the soldiers to open dialogue and negotiations.
Among those who attended the meeting was Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare, who was only appointed last Friday after Conte sacked his predecessor, Lansana Kouyate.
The dismissal of Kouyate was one of the soldiers' grievances, as they said they were now left with no one to whom they could address their complaints.
Troops launch violent protests
The soldiers were angry about what they said was $1 735 in unpaid wages, a debt they said dated back to 1996. One soldier contacted by telephone said they had been paid only a fraction of the sum owed.
Troops launched violent protests across the country a year ago over the same issue, during which at least eight people died and dozens more were injured by stray bullets.
On that occasion, soldiers rampaged across the country looting food stocks and at times firing indiscriminately at civilians.
Conte, who had ruled the West African nation with an iron fist since 1984, subsequently sacked the army's senior officers and his defence minister.
He only appointed 58-year-old Kouyate as prime minister in February 2007 under a deal to end a general strike and massive protests during which 186 people were killed.
Kouyate, a former United Nations diplomat, was on a list of candidates proposed by the opposition and unions, and replaced a close aide to Conte, Eugene Camara, whose appointment had only fuelled the unrest.