Shooting re-erupts in Guinea

2008-05-29 15:25

Maseco Conde

Conakry - Shooting has erupted again at military posts across Guinea's capital as the country's presidential guard blocked off the downtown area that houses the presidency and military headquarters.

The new round of shooting came after a day of relative calm in which a mutiny by young soldiers against their higher-ups appeared to be giving way in the face of government concessions.

A reporter heard shots fired from within several military camps and checkpoints and saw the president's red-beret-wearing troops stopping traffic throughout the city in an apparent attempt to clamp down on the mutineers.

The troops were not letting anyone into the city centre. Residents near other military installations in Conakry confirmed that they were also hearing shooting.

The disgruntled soldiers had been facing off against the government since Monday - when they took the army's second-in-command hostage and started shooting into the air in their barracks to demand eight years' back pay and other concessions.

Defence minister axed

They took to the streets on Tuesday and hospitals reported at least 10 people wounded by stray bullets.

The crisis had seemed to be easing on Wednesday after the government promised to pay each soldier 5 million Guinean francs - about $1 100 - and free soldiers imprisoned in a similar revolt last year.

The government also fired the defence minister who had threatened to prosecute the mutinous soldiers.

But late on Wednesday, soldiers continued to hold the army official - Mamadou Sampil - at the Alpha Yaya Diallo barracks.

They said that they would not consider their insurrection finished until top generals came to the camp to negotiate with them directly.

"The generals need to come to the camp within 24 hours," a soldier acting as their spokesperson said. He refused to give his name because he was worried about retribution.

Timber, gold, diamonds

He was surrounded by about 100 armed men, who occasionally shot into the air as he spoke. On Thursday, soldiers reached by phone said they were asking for all the army's generals to be fired.

Tensions started to rise in the West African country last week after President Lansana Conte unexpectedly fired Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate.

Soldiers said they were prompted to action by rumours that the new prime minister would not honour this pledge. Newly-appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare promised on Tuesday that the payments would begin within days.

Guinea, located on Africa's western coast, had vast reserves of timber, gold, diamonds and bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminium. Yet it was consistently listed as one of the world's poorest countries - a testament to misrule by the elite.

Conte, the septuagenarian dictator, had ruled the country since a 1984 coup. He agreed to appoint Kouyate - seen as a reformer - last year only after union protests over his autocratic rule turned deadly and threatened to overturn the government.

- AP