Guinean Vice-President and Defense Minister Gen. Sekouba Konate has taken charge in the absence of coup leader Moussa Dadis Camara who was wounded in an assassination attempt recently. Camara is in Morocco undergoing medical treatment.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
23:37 Mecca time, 20:37 GMT
Guinea rejects foreign troop call
Diakite, an aide to Camara, had been blamed for the deadly September military crackdown
Guinea's military leadership has rejected a proposal from a West African regional group to deploy foreign troops in the country to protect civilians as the nation's political crisis deepens.
A spokesman for the military government, which seized power in a coup last year, said on Monday that any move to bring international troops to Guinea would be considered a "declaration of war".
"The dispatch of any foreign force to Guinean soil without the government's prior authorisation will be considered as an attack on the authority of the state and its territorial integrity," Colonel Moussa Keita, a military spokesman, said.
"Consequently, we will take measures."
His comments came after diplomats from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) met on Sunday in Burkina Faso to discuss a plan to return Guinea to civilian rule and halt spreading violence.
Mounting tensions
The group, which included representatives from the US, the African Union and the European Union, called for a foreign force to provide security in the country.
It also urged the installation of a transitional body to ensure that legislative and presidential elections are held in Guinea as soon as possible.
Tensions have been mounting for weeks in Guinea, stemming from a dispute between Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, Guinea's military leader, and Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite, a former aide, over a bloody military crackdown on anti-government protesters in September.
Camara said the troops responsible for the shooting were out of his control and authorities blamed Diakite for the massacre in which witnesses said more than 150 people were killed.
On December 3, Camara was shot in the head in a failed assassination attempt at a military base in the capital, Conakry, when he tried to arrest Diakite, his head of security.
Officials in the military government have accused Diakite of being behind the shooting.
Camara is currently undergoing treatment in a Moroccan hospital.
The military leader took power after a bloodless coup in December 2008 following the death of Lansana Conte, the country's former leader.
Source: Agencies
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