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West Africa bloc calls for civilian rule in Guinea

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By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
Associated Press Writer

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) - A regional African bloc on Sunday called for Guinea to return to civilian rule as the junta's No. 2 assumed control of the country following an assassination attempt on its leader.

Gen. Sekouba Konate, the vice president of the military junta, rushed back to Guinea's capital from overseas to take charge following a Thursday assassination attempt on the junta's president. Guinea's military leader Capt. Moussa "Dadis" Camara was airlifted Friday to Morocco for emergency surgery after the head of his presidential guard opened fire on him following an altercation.

Konate's arrival was met with a call from ECOWAS, a regional bloc of West African states, to immediately hand over power to civilians.

The statement issued by ECOWAS on Sunday called on the junta to put in place a transitional authority and to organize elections, in which no members of the junta will be allowed to run.

The junta seized power in a coup last December and the coup leaders promised to organize elections and hand over power to civilians within one year. But Camara quickly reversed course. In September, his presidential guard opened fire on unarmed demonstrators who had gathered to demand that Camara step aside.

The army killed at least 157 people and the red beret-wearing soldiers then dragged dozens of women onto the stadium grass, gang raping them in broad daylight, according to numerous witnesses and human rights groups.

The shocking level of violence further divided the already splintered army, with commanders that were not present demanding that the junta leader arrest those that took part in the killings. Konate himself is said to have personally pressed for the arrest of the head of the presidential guard, Lt. Abubakar "Toumba" Diakite, who is believed to have led the killings.

Toumba was never arrested and on Thursday, he opened fire on the coup leader allegedly following an argument over who would take the fall for the September massacre, two government officials and a retired diplomat said.

Camara suffered a bullet wound to the head and was airlifted to Morocco for surgery.

The junta's Minister of Communications Idrissa Cherif described the surgery as 'minor' and said that Camara is doing well.

"It was a very small surgical intervention which went very well. He woke up from surgery yesterday and spoke to his colleagues," he told The Associated Press on Sunday.

But a diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter told the AP that the bullet had caused a splinter of bone to pierce his brain and that doctors still did not know if he would make a full recovery. It was unclear if he had regained consciousness on Sunday, the diplomat said.

The attempted assassination revealed the precarious nature of the Guinean army, which is said to be divided into camps loyal to individual army strongmen.

Since seizing power, the junta has laid waste to the country's economy, already one of the poorest in Africa even though it has half the world's reserves of bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum. In September, Guinea defaulted on its repayment of a loan to the World Bank causing the bank to freeze the country's account, said a bank official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

The cost of basic staples like rice and cooking oil have spiked, causing economic hardship.

At least 100 families whose relatives attended the Sept. 28 protest calling for Camara to step down have still not recovered the bodies of their relatives. An investigation by U.S.-based Human Rights Watch found that the military commandeered the capital's morgues and seized bodies, transporting them to military bases and hiding them, presumably in mass graves, in an effort to cover up the extent of the army-led massacre.

ECOWAS had imposed an arms embargo on the military junta following the massacre.

The European Union also imposed an arms embargo and visa banon Guinea's military leaders in October to punish them for the killings at the pro-democracy rally.

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