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Guinea's mutinous soldiers angered by get-rich generals
Conakry (AFP) Dec 23, 2008 Divisions in the Guinea military between generals who linked themselves to late president Lansana Conte and ordinary troops who felt abused may explain why an army captain led an attempted coup there Tuesday, analysts said. Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, head of the military fuel supplies unit, has become the apparent figurehead of the coup leaders who struck only hours after the death of Conte, who had ruled the poverty-stricken West African nation with an iron fist for 24 years. "There is a real split inside the army," said Alioune Tine of the Dakar-based African Meeting for the Defence of Human Rights (RADDHO). "There is a very strong ethnic polarisation." Tine said that the late president had deliberately undermined the military hierachy. "The generals have no real power over their troops. A coup d'etat could have come from anywhere, except from the military hierarchy, because the generals are part of the Lansana Conte system," he added. A mutiny by ordinary troops in May and June over unpaid wages highlighted the problems within the military which has about 15,000 soldiers. Rank-and-file soldiers accuse the generals of getting rich while they suffer. The military has however long been the pillar of Conte's rule. He took power in a coup in April 1984, one week after the death of the country's first post-independence president Ahmed Sekou Toure. Many soldiers say that Conte's Sousou ethnic group received the best jobs and other privileges. Many army, gendarmerie, navy and air force generals are Sousou. The International Crisis Group, a conflict resolution think-tank, said in a report in June that many Guineans wanted "a good coup" by progressive officers to overthrow Conte and put the bauxite-rich country on the path to true democracy. But the group also warned that there were many risks in any coup including "an explosion of violence" and wider political and ethnic chaos. Soon after Conte's death late Monday, the officers moved against the president's government though it was not immediately clear how much support they had in the army or the population as a whole. Captain Camara said on state radio that the constitution has been suspended and all state institutions dissolved to be replaced by a "consultative council". "The institutions of the republic have shown themselves to be incapable of resolving the crises which have been confronting the country" and the country was in "deep despair", Camara said on Radio Conakry. "Guinea celebrated the 50th anniversary of its independence on October 2 classified as one of the poorest countries on the planet," he said. "With our vast natural resources, Guinea should be much more prosperous." Camara said rampant corruption, a culture of impunity and "unparalleled anarchy in the state apparatus" had triggered an "economic catastrophe which has been particularly harsh for the vast majority of Guineans." Share This Article With Planet Earth
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