Word: guinea
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...mend internal strife. Keeping up a smokescreen about Camara's condition also buys time. If Konate can command enough respect from the various factions to hold the military together, then he may emerge as the new leader. Crisis Group, a Brussels-based watchdog that closely follows the situation in Guinea, believes that's a real possibility. But Guinea's opposition is skeptical of his chances. "Right now, there is no government in Guinea," says a prominent politician by telephone from Conakry. "There is no discipline within the army at all." He calls for an international peacekeeping force to protect civilians...
...Camara was shot in the head twice by soldiers loyal to one of his lieutenants. Recuperating in a hospital in Morocco, Camara is unlikely to return to run the country anytime soon. Though his departure won't be mourned, it is probable that worse lies ahead for Guinea, a country of 10 million plagued by extreme poverty, corruption and dire governance. (See pictures of Guinea-Bissau: world's first narco-state...
Analysts like the New York-based Human Rights Watch worry that chaos in Guinea could threaten the wider region. Guinea borders Liberia and Sierra Leone, countries that are still recovering from civil wars that left hundreds of thousands killed or mutilated. To the east lies Ivory Coast, the former jewel of West Africa that remains divided following a civil war that broke out in 2002. Conflicts in this part of the world tend to cross borders, as the Guineans who fought in Liberia's war know all to well. A lively regional arms trade and recruitment of fighters could easily...
...show off his bedside literature: a copy of the self-help book The Power of Positive Thinking. The hallway of his barracks is hung with a clumsy oil painting of him riding a horse, eyes fixed on the horizon like some latter-day Napoléon. Many in Guinea maintain that Camara lost control over the army within months of seizing power in a Christmas coup after the death of President Lansana Conte. He himself admitted as much after a massacre on Sept. 28, in which troops slaughtered some 160 opposition demonstrators in the national stadium. "Even the head...
...entrance. When I visited the camp in November, the atmosphere was tense and chaotic. Obvious signs of substance abuse - most likely cocaine - showed in the eyes of many soldiers. Men in uniform staggered around shouting and wildly waving their machine guns, and brawls appeared to be routine. (Read "In Guinea, Hopelessness After the Massacre...