Fears are growing in Washington that Guinea’s wounded junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara could return to Conakry and possibly trigger a civil war that could reignite west African conflicts.
Camara, reported recovering in Morocco after his aide de camp tried to kill him on Dec. 3, could return to Guinea and launch reprisals that could split the army into warring factions, former US diplomat John Campbell said.
In such a scenario, Camara might fall back on his ethnic militias who have ties to groups in Liberia and Sierra Leone, said Campbell, who is now an Africa analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
Guinea’s neighbors Liberia and Sierra Leone were engulfed in civil wars in the 1990s.
“If he [Camara] could go off to a nice villa in the south of France, it would be better for all of us,” Campbell said.
One US administration official said on the condition of anonymity that Washington is “very much against him returning to Guinea” after hearing that Camara may be fit enough to leave Morocco next month.
The same official also suspects Camara last month received US$100 million from China that he has used to pay for weapons and for South African and Israeli instructors who are reportedly training his militias.
The official alleged the payment amounts to a “security deposit” from China as it seeks a stake in Guinea’s bauxite, gold, iron ore and aluminum mines.
Deputy US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs William Fitzgerald echoed fears about the risks of civil war, although he did not say he opposed Camara’s return and did not refer to China’s alleged financial role.
“We’re very concerned about these ethnic militias and the potential, if Dadis were to return, of a civil war that would spill over the borders and reinfect Sierre Leone and Liberia,” Fitzgerald said.
“Dadis’s return would complicate many of the steps that we’re trying to take to return to constitutional rule,” he said.
The US, along with international and African regional groupings, has been urging the junta to step down and make way for a transitional body since the army massacred dozens of opposition protesters on Sept. 28.
And in Camara’s absence, Fitzgerald said, Washington has begun “reaching out” to the interim leader, General Sekouba Konate, in a bid to encourage Guinea’s return to civilian rule, including having free and fair elections.
Fitzgerald said the US is also “impressed” with how Konate has tried to instill discipline in the military since Lieutenant Aboubakar Sidiki Diakite, who is now in hiding, shot Camara in the head on Dec. 3.
Diakite has been accused by some witnesses of being one of the leaders of the September massacre.
Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore, the mediator in the Guinea crisis, should press the junta on civilian rule and an observer force as soon as possible, Fitzgerald said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS