CONAKRY, Guinea — The leader of a coup in Guinea and several thousand soldiers paraded through the capital Wednesday as cheering crowds screamed “long live the president!” Renegade army Capt. Moussa Camara said his group would hold power until elections in two years.
Cautiously at first and then by the thousand, people lined streets to applaud Camara, a virtual unknown until the death two days ago of longtime dictator Lansana Conte set in motion a political upheaval.
He stood in the first truck of a military convoy en route to the presidential palace and waved to the throng. A phalanx of soldiers hoisting Kalashnikovs accompanied the parade.
“I came to see if the terrain is favorable to us. I see that it is,” Camara told those in the crowd, many of whom waved tree branches in celebration.
Initially the coup leaders promised elections within 60 days, but Camara said in a broadcast Wednesday that the 32-member junta would hold power for about two years.
“The National Council for Democracy and Development has no ambition of staying in power,” he said on state radio. “We are here to promote the organization of credible and transparent presidential elections by the end of December 2010.”
Soldiers loyal to the coup plotters circulated in tanks and jeeps armed with rocket launchers.
Guinea’s prime minister — in hiding since the coup was declared — said earlier Wednesday that the government remained in control.
“This unknown captain doesn’t control the army. The majority of the troops are still loyal — but one little group can cause a lot of disorder,” Ahmed Tidiane Souare said from an undisclosed location.
Uncertainty remained about whether Camara’s group controls all of Guinea.
Ba Mamadou, a former World Bank adviser and honorary president of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea, told Radio France International that the coup organizers had politicians’ backing.
“Political leaders were involved in editing” the coup declaration, he said, without naming anyone. “It’s clear that for a long time, a lot of people were preparing something for after Conte.”
Camara accused the government of importing mercenaries to help regain power. Parliament leader Aboubacar Sompare — who constitutionally is next in line to be president — said the claim showed the junta’s desperation.
Those in Conakry showing support for the army takeover said they were ready for a change.
“Sompare is a continuation of Lansana Conte,” said 49-year-old Cozy Haba. “I recognize that what we are doing instead is jumping into the unknown. But to me that’s better than Sompare — who unfortunately I know too well.”
Until Conte’s death Monday night, Guinea had been ruled by only two people since its 1958 independence from France. Conte first took power in a 1984 military coup after his predecessor’s death, embarking on more than two decades of stern-handed, dictatorial rule.
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