Guinea - Camara wounded

Camara flown to Morocco after assassination bid

Article published on the 2009-12-04 Latest update 2009-12-04 17:20 TU

Capitán Moussa Dadis Camara, en Conakry, el 5 de octubre de 2009.
(Foto: Luc Gnago/ Reuters)

Guinea's military ruler, Moussa Dadis Camara, has been wounded in an assassination attempt. A plane from Burkina Faso has evacuated him to Morocco, according to Senegalese diplomats.

Officials say that Camara was attacked on Thursday afternoon by his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Aboubacar "Toumba" Sidiki Diakite.

Diakite's friends say he has gone into hiding, despite an earlier government claim that he had been "located, meaing arrested".

The military blockaded the main entrances into Conakry on Friday but residents report that the capital is calm.

"Those who wanted to make an attempt on the life of President Dadis will face a punishment in accordance with the gravity of the act that they wanted to carry out," declared presidential spokesperson Idriss Cherif.

Members of the presidential guard have told news agencies that the shooting occurred after Camara told Diakite that he would hold him responsible for September's massacre in a Conakry stadium.

“Captain Dadis was going to let Leiutenant Toumba, the man who shot him, answer for the charges," Douglas Yates from the American University of Paris told RFI.

"Toumba runs the Presidential Guard – these men wear red berets - and people in the stadium on September 28 took photographs showing red beret Presidential Guard members raping and massacring. So every indication was that Captain Dadis was going to co-operate with the UN investigators by handing over his aide de camp,” Yates added.

Cherif was non-committal as to whether that was the motive.

"The President called for transparency with the international commission of inquiry to find out what happened at the stadium," he said. "I am not saying that it is for that reason ... but know that the President has always wanted complete transparency".

“Many people think that the major threat to Captain Dadis is external intervention, but the major threat to someone who comes to power through violence by coup d’etat is a counter coup – and this is the first taste of that,” says Yates, a West African specialist.

An anonymous high-ranking official told the AFP news agency that Camara had tried to arrest people close to Diakite on suspicion of drug-running.