Guinea News Update: Camara Sets Date for National Elections; Liberian Rebel Leader Conneh Released From Prison

Guinean leader Moussa Dadis Camara has announced plans to hold national elections in January 2010. Camara took power in a military coup in December 2008 after the death of Lansana Conte.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Guinea coup leader sets poll date

The army officer who seized power in a coup in Guinea has said presidential polls will be held on 31 January 2010 and elections for parliament in March.

Capt Moussa Dadis Camara took over within hours of the death of Guinea's long-term ruler, President Lansana Conte, in December.

He had promised to hold elections this year, saying none of the junta members would stand.

Last week his supporters formed a movement urging him to stand.

Capt Camara, who declared himself "president of the republic" the day after the coup, has maintained he has no intention of clinging to power.

His rule has been characterised by eccentric displays of power - such as forcing members of the elite presidential guard to beg for forgiveness on national TV after they roughed up a veteran soldier.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8206951.stm
Published: 2009/08/18 11:09:16 GMT


Guinea releases Liberia ex-rebel leader

Posted on Tuesday 18 August 2009 - 06:39

Henry Flomo, AfricaNews reporter in Monrovia, Liberia

Erstwhile Liberian rebel leader Sekou Demate Conneh has been released from prison in Guinea. The man who led the defunct Liberia United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) had his freedom restored by the military junta of Captain Moussa Dedis Camara and ordered to leave Guinea in 72 hours.

Sekou was arrested and detained months ago on allegations of subversion but he denied it. His force oversaw the premature departure of ex-president Chares Taylor from power in 2003.

Local media is quoting a publicist of Conneh - Mark Jabateh - that the former presidential candidate in the 2005 Liberian elections was released upon the intervention of the ECOWAS through Sierra Leonean president Earnest Bai Koromah.

According to the report, Conneh landed in Sierra Leone upon his release for medical treatment but was asked by that country to leave on security grounds.

With Conneh yet to arrive in Liberia, his next destination remains unknown. While, in jail, some of Conneh’s supporters in Liberia pleaded with the Liberian government to intercede his release from prison to no avail.