The leader of a coup in Guinea tightened his grip on the west African state Thursday, winning the allegiance of the toppled government, despite growing international calls for swift elections. After Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare and his cabinet turned themselves in, coup leader Moussa Dadis Camara said they could stay and help him run the country but left them with no illusions about who was now in charge.
"Yesterday, you were in power, today it's our turn," said the army captain who declared himself as the head of a ruling junta after the death of veteran strongman President Lansana Conte. "You can go back to business, let us just avoid armed conflict which would drag our country into fratricidal war." "We helped you, you must help us," he added in a meeting at a military camp witnessed by journalists.
Souare replied that he and his ministers were ready to serve the junta and made a point of referring to Camara as president. "We are at your complete disposal," Souare said. "We thank you once again for your wisdom, Mr President." The prime minister and his and his cabinet had turned themselves in after an order to so from the junta that seized control on Tuesday within hours of veteran strongman Conte's death at the age of 74.
Camara had warned that if all top military brass and government members did not turn themselves in by the end of Thursday, "a sweep of the entire national territory will be organised." The junta had earlier said elections would be held in December 2010 and Camara told the premier that military rule would only be temporary.
"The army's assumption of power is transitional, and will result in free and transparent elections, after which we will return to barracks," he said. "We are not ambitious, may God keep us from injustice, tribalism and corruption." The seaside capital Conakry was calm and traffic slowly trickled back on the streets Thursday after filling stations reopened. Soldiers were stationed at key points, including a camp where Conte's body has been kept.
However the storm of international criticism triggered by the coup showed no sign of abating. The office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the former colonial power wanted to see "a peaceful, ordered and democratic transition" and the holding of "free and transparent elections which should be organised soon and under international monitoring".
The United States demanded an immediate return to civilian rule, saying the idea of elections not taking place for another two years was unacceptable. "The United States of America condemns the military coup in Guinea and rejects the communique promising elections in December 2010," said a statement in French released by the embassy in Conakry.
"We demand an immediate return to civilian rule" and elections in May as originally planned before Conte's death, it said. Two main Guinean opposition groupings meanwhile urged the junta to stage a vote in a year's time. The Coalition of Forces for Change and the National Alliance for Alternative Democracy acknowledged the coup, but called for "transparent, free and credible elections" to be held "at the latest by the end of 2009."
Camara plans to lead a 32-member interim administration, made up of 26 military officers and six civilians. In a show of force, he paraded through the capital on Wednesday with hundreds of soldiers before announcing he was the new "president of the republic". Thousands of coup supporters thronged the streets of Conakry, surrounding the presidential palace and the government ministries, before dispersing peacefully.
Among them were many young people from the suburbs of the capital, disaffected after years of dictatorial rule. The new military leaders had ordered a nation-wide curfew to be imposed from Wednesday night before postponing it until Friday "to allow Christians to celebrate a peaceful Christmas holiday" in the largely Muslim country, according to a statement read on national radio.
Friday is also the day when Conte's funeral is to be held in his home village, according to family sources. Guinea, a small nation of about 10 million people, is the world's leading exporter of bauxite, an ore from which aluminium is produced.
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