Word: juntas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...island has been partitioned since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded the north in response to a coup in Nicosia backed by the military junta then ruling Greece. Numerous international peace plans have since been floated - and failed - but several factors conspire to make this a moment of opportunity. "There is reason to be more optimistic than ever before," says Metin Munir, a Turkish Cypriot political commentator. "The biggest change is that Turkey, a dominant party in the conflict, now wants a solution. They are willing to compromise." (See pictures of the streets of Istanbul...
...junta blames former colonial power France for the shooting, a time-honored way to distract attention and temporarily 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...
...then came his own shooting. It appears to have been triggered by a botched attempt to arrest one of his closest collaborators in the junta, Lieutenant Aboubacar Diakite, alias Toumba, chief of the presidential guard. Toumba and Camara are part of an alliance of commanders that includes Captain Jean Claude Pivi, a former martial-arts champion who did not get along with Toumba...
...alliance is one of convenience more than one of ideology. In the main military camp in Conakry, where the junta holes up, each leader has his own barracks and his own loyal troops manning machine guns at the 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...
...junta holds together at all, it will be thanks to its No. 2, General Sekouba Konate. The days after Camara was shot, Pivi's troops launched an assault on Toumba. Various reports of pillaging and violence by opposing factions emerged, but the chaos could have been worse. Konate was quick to outlaw Toumba, who is now in hiding, and scores of his supporters have been arrested...