GUINEA: More army officers arrested in the interior of Guinea

Photo: IRIN

CONAKRY, 1 December 2003 (IRIN) - An unknown number of army officers and rank-and-file soldiers were arrested at the end of last week in the interior of Guinea in a wave of arrests which began on Wednesday night in the capital Conakry, security sources said. Several dozen soldiers and junior officers have been detained in the sweep, which was extended to personnel serving in the provincial towns of Labe, Kankan and N'zerekore, they added. The government has not so far commented on the wave of arrests, which began three weeks after President Lansana Conte warned the army in a speech against plotting a coup to oust him. The sweep begun on Wednesday when dozens of army officers were arrested. Conte, who is now 69 and in poor health, came to power himself in a military coup 19 years ago. The authoritarian president is seeking a further seven-year term as head of state in elections on 21 December. All the main opposition parties have boycotted the poll in protest at Conte's refusal to appoint a genuinely independent electoral commission and allow opposition candidates free access to state television and radio. . The security sources said the most prominent military officer to be arrested so far was Commander Aly Camara, the second in command of the presidential guard. Other prominent detaines were Sidiki Camara, a senior figure at the Gendarmerie training school in Conakry and Lieutenant Apha Ousmane Diallo, the son of a former speaker of parliament, Bubacarr Biro Diallo, who subsequently became a fierce critic of the president, sources added.