Guinea’s leader wounded in assassination attempt

Capt. Moussa “Dadis” Camara was shot Thursday while at a military camp housing hundreds of men under the control of his aide-de-camp, Abubakar “Toumba” Diakite, Communications Minister Idrissa Cherif said. Toumba was believed to still be at large early Friday. A government spokesman said Friday that the 45-year-old president “is doing fine,” saying that he […]

Capt. Moussa “Dadis” Camara was shot Thursday while at a military camp housing hundreds of men under the control of his aide-de-camp, Abubakar “Toumba” Diakite, Communications Minister Idrissa Cherif said. Toumba was believed to still be at large early Friday.

A government spokesman said Friday that the 45-year-old president “is doing fine,” saying that he had suffered a light wound to his shoulder.

But several officials close to the ruling junta told The Associated Press that Camara is believed to have sustained a bullet wound to the head and was in serious condition. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the matter.

Presidential spokesman Idrissa Cherif denied the allegation, as well as media reports that a medical plane dispatched from neighboring Senegal had landed at Conakry’s airport and was waiting to transport the wounded coup leader.

“The president of the republic is still the president of the republic and he is in good health,” Cherif said. “He is doing fine … He has a slight wound on his shoulder. It’s nothing to worry about. Everything is under control.”

He declined to say whether the shot grazed or penetrated Camara, or whether anyone else in the entourage was hurt.

A senior civil servant who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press said that he had spoken to members of the military who confirmed that Camara was in serious condition from a head wound. A retired Guinean diplomat said that he, too, had spoken to the coup leader’s aides who said that he is bleeding from the head.

The presidential spokesman said that Toumba’s intention was to kill the leader. “When you pull a gun on someone, is it your intention to scare him? No. Your intention is to kill him … He shot at the president and his intention was to take his life,” Cherif said.

The attack underscored the deep rifts inside the military clique that grabbed control of the West African nation last December following the death of the country’s longtime dictator. Camara had initially promised to quickly organize elections, but then reversed course and began hinting that he planned to run for office, prompting a massive protest Sept. 28.

Toumba is accused of having led the presidential guard that opened fire on the peaceful demonstrators, who had gathered inside the capital’s national stadium. Human rights groups say at least 157 people were killed and dozens of women were raped by the red beret-wearing presidential guard who also assaulted them with bayonets, rifle butts and with pieces of wood.

At least 20 women were kidnapped and driven away in military trucks to private villas where they were drugged and videotaped while they were being gang raped over several days, according to three survivors as well as several human rights groups.

The government has denied all wrongdoing and blamed opposition leaders for going ahead with a banned protest.

The massacre led the European Union and the African Union to impose sanctions on Guinea, including on top members of the junta, who are now the subject of a travel ban. Sources inside the military say that it deeply aggravated divisions that were already present and has led to the clique fracturing further. Members of the junta, including Toumba, are believed to lead private armies that are faithful only to them.

A U.N. mission was in Conakry this week investigating the massacre and interviewed top military commanders in order to try to understand how the order to kill protesters was given. Some may face charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.

Hardly anyone had heard of Camara until his men broke down the glass doors of the state TV station on Dec. 23, 2008. He announced that the constitution had been dissolved and that the country was under the rule of a military junta.

Many began to question his tactics when he authorized raids on the homes of well-known members of the dead president’s inner circle. Camara claimed the raids were intended to recoup money and property stolen from the state, but many complained of heavy-handed tactics.

The military junta also put top government officials on TV, where they detailed their roles in a lucrative international cocaine trade in Guinea. Guinea and other West African countries in recent years emerged as key transshipment points for cocaine bound from South America to Europe.

Camara’s arrests of corrupt officials won him admiration, but he has been criticized for his love of the spotlight and his insistence on broadcasting rambling, multi-hour tirades. Camara generally sleeps all day only to emerge at night, and has a waiting room adorned with 6-foot (1.8-meter)-tall portraits of himself.

Since winning independence half a century ago from France, Guinea has been pillaged by its ruling elite. Its 10 million people are among the world’s poorest, even though its soil has diamonds, gold, iron and half the world’s reserves of the raw material used to make aluminum.

Associated Press