Loyalist troops sealed off the center of Guinea’s capital on Thursday to protect the presidency and key installations as a mutiny over unpaid wages entered a fourth day and bursts of gunfire briefly rang out from military camps controlled by disgruntled soldiers.
The rising tensions came after a day of relative calm following a government agreement to meet some of the mutinous soldiers’ demands.
By late afternoon, the shooting appeared to have stopped, but the city stayed largely shut down — offices were closed and few cars moved through the streets. Loyalist army Chief of Staff General Diarra Camara issued a statement broadcast over state radio calling on soldiers taking part in the revolt to return to their barracks.
Earlier, the guard that protects long-ruling dictator Lansana Conte fanned out from the city center, which is home to the presidency, the military headquarters and top hotels. The troops stopped traffic at key intersections in Conakry preventing anyone from entering downtown.
The disgruntled soldiers have been facing off against the government since Monday, when they took the army’s second-in-command hostage and started shooting into the air in their barracks to demand eight years’ back pay and other concessions. They took to the streets on Tuesday and hospitals reported at least 10 people wounded by stray bullets.
The crisis had seemed to be easing on Wednesday after the government promised to pay each soldier 5 million Guinean francs (US$1,100) — and free soldiers imprisoned in a similar revolt last year. The government also fired the defense minister who had threatened to prosecute the mutinous soldiers.
But soldiers continued to hold the army official, Mamadou Sampil, at the Alpha Yaya Diallo barracks.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
The death toll from a shooting in western Afghanistan rose to 11 on Saturday, after gunmen targeted civilians at a picnic spot in Herat, the provincial authority said. Bullet marks were visible on a wall of the Sayed Mohammad Agha Shia shrine, while bloodstains marked a blanket abandoned at the scene. “Eleven people have been recorded dead and eight others wounded from Friday’s incident, with the condition of two of the wounded reported as critical,” Herat’s information office said in a statement. The update raises a toll of seven killed provided on Friday by the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs
RSS