Guinean Capt. Camara, the coup leader along with a bodyguard. The coup appears to have received broad acceptance among the population amid over twenty-four years of misrule by Lansana Conte.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
16:47 Mecca time, 13:47 GMT
Guinea coup leader sacks generals
Camara declared himself president after seizing power following the death of Lansana Conte
Coup leaders in Guinea have dismissed 22 senior military officials, including the chief of staff who had spoken out against Captain Moussa Dadis Camara's move to seize power.
A spokesman for the coup leader said in a statement on Sunday that all the generals had reached the mandatory retirement age.
"They will be appointed to other senior positions at a later date," it said.
The African Union, meanwhile, has suspended Guinea's membership in the bloc, giving the the coup leaders six months to restore "constitutional order" or face further sanctions.
Camara announced the dissolution of the government and suspended the constitution just hours after the death of Lansana Conte, Guinea's president, last Monday.
He has declared himself president, but has pledged to step down in 2010 and hold elections after tackling corruption in the West African nation.
"I know power is sweet," Camara told Al Jazeera in a spartan room in his office in the capital Conakry.
"But look at this building, what do you see? Why are we here in this heat, when we could be in air conditioned offices cutting corrupt deals?"
On Saturday, he said the new military leaders would execute anyone who embezzles state funds and froze the country's numerous mining contracts.
Patriotism
Camara, who until the bloodless coup was in charge of supplying army vehicles with fuel, also defended himself against those questioning his ability to lead the country of 10 million people.
"My qualification is patriotism. You don't need to go to Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard University to run a country," he said.
"I went to a university in Guinea and studied public finance. My master's thesis was on the intervention of the International Monetary Fund in Africa, Latin America and Asia. So basically, I am an economist."
Analysts had warned that the military, which is divided between bases spread out across the country and is now devoid of any central command, could become a source of opposition to Camara.
The African Union - the region's main bloc - and many other countries have condemned the coup.
After a meeting of its Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the AU on Monday announced it was suspending Guinea "until the return of constitutional order in that country".
Inside Guinea, however, the coup has been widely welcomed after 24 years of repressive rule under Conte.
"With this new military junta, we are happy. Guineans thought there would be violence. But since the military stepped in there has been peace," one resident of Conakry told Al Jazeera.
'No resistance'
Cellou Dalein, who was a prime minister under president Conte between December 2004 and April 2006, said: "There was no resistance because of a crisis of legitimacy surrounding the country's institutions and because of the misery" of the Guinean people.
"In 1995, only 40 per cent of the population lived on less than a dollar a day. Today it's 55 per cent," Dalein, who became head of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces in Guinea (UFDG) in November 2007, said.
Guinea sits on one-third of the world's reserves of bauxite reserves, the raw material used to make aluminum, and also has important reserves of gold, diamonds, and other minerals.
But because of corruption and mismanagement, Guinea ranks 160 out of 177 in the United Nation's development scale.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Guinea junta retires 22 army generals
Monday, December 29
CONAKRY (AFP) - - Guinea's military junta moved to consolidate its grip on power Sunday by retiring 22 senior army officers, including the army chief who was a leading critic of the coup.
Junta leader and self-proclaimed president, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, said in a statement the generals had all reached the mandatory retirement age.
"They will be appointed to other senior positions at a later date," the statement added without further details.
General Diarra Camara, the army's chief of staff, was loyal to the late president Lansana Conte who died Monday and opposed the coup launched just a few hours after the leader's death was announced.
In nearby Ghana, the top US envoy to Africa warned that the Guinea coup could be repeated in Zimbabwe if Robert Mugabe is allowed to remain as president there.
"I think that (the coup in Guinea) should serve as a real warning to the region... of what might happen if Robert Mugabe is allowed to cling to power and in fact die in office as he seems to want to do," Jendayi Frazer, US assistant secretary of state for African affairs told reporters in Accra, where she was observing that country's presidential run-off election.
Guinea's strongman Conte died at age 74, after ruling the west African nation for 24 years, soon after which coup leaders from the military immediately announced the dissolution of the government.
Guinea's military junta also said Sunday that it would open negotiations with mining companies operating in the country "within the coming days" which would work towards "an advantageous collaboration for all parties."
Camara on Saturday said he had seized power to lead a crackdown on corruption and shut down all mining operations across the country.
The move risked threatening the country's economy, which relies heavily on mineral exports, especially in a time of financial crisis and falling raw material prices.
More than a third of the world's bauxite reserves are located in Guinea, making it the second-largest producer internationally after Australia and the world's biggest exporter.
It also has large reserves of gold, diamonds, iron and nickel, while uranium deposits were found at various sites in 2007.
Most of the international community including the African Union has condemned the coup as an unconstitutional transition of power in Guinea, one of the world's poorest countries despite its vast mineral wealth.
But opposition leaders say the junta enjoys support among ordinary people in Guinea because they lived in such abject poverty under Conte.
Cellou Dalein, who was a prime minister under president Conte between December 2004 and April 2006, told AFP "there was no resistance (to the coup) because of a crisis of legitimacy surrounding the country's institutions and because of the misery" of the Guinean people.
"In 1995, only 40 percent of the population lived on less than a dollar a day. Today it's 55 percent," said Dalein, who became head of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces in Guinea (UFDG) in November 2007.
With sentiment on the streets favouring the coup, any attempts at resistance melted and even the overturned government pledged loyalty to Camara. By Friday nearly all political parties and unions were on board.
The coup put an end to the career of parliament speaker Aboubacar Sompare, seen as a "Conte clan" member, who according to the constitution after the president's death should have become the interim head of state until elections could be held in 60 days.
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