Word: lansana
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...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 of state cannot control this movement," he told French radio station RFI the day after. (See pictures of death and life in Sierra Leone...
...When Camara first took power, Guineans seemed willing to give him a chance to lead. He filled a vacuum following the death of the unpopular and corrupt President Lansana Conte, who had ruled with an iron fist for 24 years. For months, Guineans were treated to the spectacle of Camara grilling former government figures on TV, exposing their corruption and mocking their venality. Conte's son and brother-in-law both confessed to being involved in the trans-shipment of cocaine from South America to Europe. Most significantly, Camara also promised to hold democratic elections within a year...
...After longtime Guinean President Lansana Conte died before grooming a successor, members of Guinea's military junta reportedly drew lots to decide who would become the nation's next leader. On Dec. 23, Camara's soldiers broke down the doors of the state TV station and broadcast that he was dissolving the constitution. (Read "A Big Double Murder Jolts Africa's Cocaine...
...Camara had once been seen as a beacon of hope for the resource-rich country, one of the poorest in the world. When he took power following the death of autocratic President Lansana Conte, who had ruled for 24 years, Camara promised to hold elections to bring about civilian rule within a year. Many Guineans were also optimistic that Camara could stop the rampant looting of the country's coffers by government officials. In 2008, Guinea was ranked 173rd out of 180 countries in a corruption index by Transparency International, a corruption watchdog. (Read "Why Guinea's People Welcomed...
...turmoil among the country's neighbors, in a region which has been beset by Latin American drug traffickers, who are increasingly using West Africa as a way station for cocaine smuggling into Europe. Military officers in neighboring Guinea mounted a coup last December hours after that country's president Lansana Conte died. Conte's administration had been seen as particularly friendly to the foreign drug lords. Last week, Guinea's military coup leaders arrested several politicians and military officers in the capital Conakry, charging them with drug smuggling for the Colombian cartels. The late President's son Ousmane Conte - whom...