NationStates Jolt Archive

Source (http://viewfromtheleft.org/2008/12/23/guineas-president-dies-coup-attempt-immediately-follows/) source (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE4BM3UN20081223?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0)

A small chunk of the second article:
CONAKRY (Reuters) - Mutinous Guinean soldiers launched a coup attempt on Tuesday hours after the death was announced of the West African nation's long-serving President Lansana Conte.

But the head of the army said he believed the plotters were in the minority.

The mutineers broadcast a communique on state radio suspending the constitution and the government. It was not clear how much support they had for their bid to take over the world's biggest exporter of aluminum ore bauxite.

"I think they are in the minority ... they are not the majority in the army," Guinea's armed forces chief, General Diarra Camara, told French TV station France 24.

Officials said negotiations were held at the main Alpha Yaya Diallo military base in Conakry's suburbs, between soldiers and officers who supported the coup and those who wanted to stay loyal to constitutional procedure.

"The situation is volatile ... it's hard to see how it's going to go. But my feeling is that they will arrive at some sort of agreement," said Elizabeth Cote, country director in Guinea for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), a non-partisan group which promotes democratic elections.



I wonder if anything will actually improve after this coup attempt personally.

I wonder if anything will actually improve after this coup attempt personally.
It's Africa, what do you think -_-

I glanced at the thread title and read Guinea PIG dies, coup ensues...
I was quite intrigued what could be so special about a guinea pig so that its death could cause a coup.

I'm somewhat disappointed now.

See Canada, this is a coup. What happened here at home was democracy in action.

It's the worlds most half arsed coup ever - the head of the army isn't even involved. No soldiers have taken to the street's, and aparntly the goverment apparatus is operating normaly. No one's even bothered to arest the Prime Minister for Bob's sake!

Clearly, the officers who've inspired this coup didn't pay attention in Military Intervention 101 during their cadet days.

On a more serious note, it looks like some ambitious junior officers incited rebellion half-cocked, without a sufficiently charismatic or well-placed high-ranker to rally and lead them. I mean, the highest-ranking officer isn't even recruited or dead yet.

My guess is that these plotters are in fact in the minority, as officially stated, but are substantial enough to be a threat.

Unless the rebellious officers are incredibly convincing during these talks, I expect that there will be quiet reform of the government in accordance with a deal between the loyalists and rebels.

I wish I was more informed of Guinea's recent political history, so I could say more...

Source (http://viewfromtheleft.org/2008/12/23/guineas-president-dies-coup-attempt-immediately-follows/) source (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE4BM3UN20081223?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0)

A small chunk of the second article:

Quote:
CONAKRY (Reuters) - Mutinous Guinean soldiers launched a coup attempt on Tuesday hours after the death was announced of the West African nation's long-serving President Lansana Conte.

But the head of the army said he believed the plotters were in the minority.

The mutineers broadcast a communique on state radio suspending the constitution and the government. It was not clear how much support they had for their bid to take over the world's biggest exporter of aluminum ore bauxite.

"I think they are in the minority ... they are not the majority in the army," Guinea's armed forces chief, General Diarra Camara, told French TV station France 24.

Officials said negotiations were held at the main Alpha Yaya Diallo military base in Conakry's suburbs, between soldiers and officers who supported the coup and those who wanted to stay loyal to constitutional procedure.

"The situation is volatile ... it's hard to see how it's going to go. But my feeling is that they will arrive at some sort of agreement," said Elizabeth Cote, country director in Guinea for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), a non-partisan group which promotes democratic elections.


I wonder if anything will actually improve after this coup attempt personally.

Sounds like a great RW based RP. I hope someone does it, I am not a good RP er to do it myself.

The question is what will the international community of nations do probably nothing. Time will tell what next.

same thing we did in Rawanda I imgine

I wish I was more informed of Guinea's recent political history, so I could say more...
Old president got victory in a coup, these guys possibly have, but not really. That's about it.

The question is what will the international community of nations do probably nothing. Time will tell what next.

Since it's in Africa, they're lucky it's online..

It's the worlds most half arsed coup ever - the head of the army isn't even involved. No soldiers have taken to the street's, and aparntly the goverment apparatus is operating normaly. No one's even bothered to arest the Prime Minister for Bob's sake!

Last time I checked, they had suspended the constitution and gathered all government ministers together 'for their own security', so that's more of a proper coup by most people's standards.

But in so far as it looks half-arsed, it's only because it's a de jure continuation of the de facto situation before the coup.

The constitution was largely a sham designed to give a democratic veneer to Conte's rule. He rigged elections, amended the constitution at will (to remove the term limit clause, for one), and led an autocratic regime almost entirely dependent on military backing. He also came to power in a (proper) military coup himself. With Conte dead, the military are merely ensuring the position they already held. I'm not saying that's necessarily a good thing, only highlighting that the military aren't taking any power that wasn't already theirs anyway.

I doubt the international community will do much, if only because this isn't a proper coup, and destabilising what passes for the most stable regime in that particular corner of coastal West Africa isn't going to help anyone.

Of the coastal countries between Senegal and Ghana....

Cote D'Ivoire is still fragile after a brief civil war that split the country in half.

Liberia and Sierra Leone are even more fragile democracies recuperating after some of the nastiest and messiest civil wars in Africa - any conflict that heavily features child soldiers randomly amputating the limbs of their urban opponents (as in Sierra Leone) can't be fun for anyone.

Guinea-Bissau is essentially a narco-state where the institutions of government are largely controlled by Colombian drug cartels using the nation as a trans-shipment point between S.America and Europe.

With neighbours like those, who needs instability?

Again, that shouldn't be read as an attempt to justify military rule of a needlessly impoverished nation, only as an attempt to explain why the international community will probably turn a blind eye.

I glanced at the thread title and read Guinea PIG dies, coup ensues...
I was quite intrigued what could be so special about a guinea pig so that its death could cause a coup.

I'm somewhat disappointed now.

Makes two of us :(

I glanced at the thread title and read Guinea PIG dies, coup ensues...
I was quite intrigued what could be so special about a guinea pig so that its death could cause a coup.

I'm somewhat disappointed now.

I feel better knowing that I'm not the only one that made that mistake.

nd destabilising what passes for the most stable regime in that particular corner of coastal West Africa

Ghana doesn't count then?