GUINEA/FILE: Guinea on alert after attack on junta chief

Record ID: 352860

  • Title: GUINEA/FILE: Guinea on alert after attack on junta chief
  • Date: 5th December 2009
  • Summary: CONAKRY, GUINEA (DECEMBER 4, 2009) (REUTERS) EARLY MORNING SHOT OF OF EMPTY STREET VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS OUTSIDE KOUNDARA MILITARY CAMP VARIOUS OF STREET SCENES IN CENTRE OF TOWN VARIOUS OF STREET SCENES WITH PEOPLE AND CLOSED SHOPS SOLDIERS IN STREET
  • Embargoed: 20th December 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4DCWJIV0HOEMETZ8Q4Q73VIQW
  • Story Text: Guinea's ruling junta said order had been restored to the capital Conakry on Friday (December 4), hours after soldiers shot and injured junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara.
    Residents said gunshots could be heard across the city overnight as security forces hunted down suspects, and soldiers were seen guarding thoroughfares and other strategic points.
    The incident underlined the fragility of Guinea, the world's top exporter of the aluminium ore bauxite and one of a cluster of unstable countries in West Africa.
    "The government can offer the assurance that the situation is under control," a junta official said on state television after the violence flared late on Thursday.
    "President Moussa Dadis Camara was slightly wounded. Very fortunately, his life is not in danger," said the official, reading from a statement.
    Neighbouring Senegal sent an aeroplane and a medical team to Conakry to help if a medical evacuation was needed, but Camara's wounds were light enough to be treated on site, local media reported on Friday, quoting a junta official.
    The attack happened as U.N. investigators in Conakry wound up their inquiry into a Sept. 28 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in which more than 150 protesters were killed and scores of women raped, according to witnesses.
    The statement said Camara's former aide de camp, Lieutenant Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakite, was behind the attack on Camara.
    Witnesses and human rights groups have named Toumba as a leading figure in the September killings, for which junta leaders could face international prosecution.
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