All is Calm

We talked to Cam's mom last night and we are good to go for her trip. The gas stations have reopened and another PCV has a friend flying in Tuesday. We'll stick around Conakry until Wednesday when we go pick her up at the airport.

CONAKRY, Guinea — West African leaders appealed for calm in Guinea today, saying the army mutiny there could destabilize neighboring states struggling to put an era of wars and conflict behind them.

Junior troops disgruntled over back pay and demanding that Guinea's top generals resign began firing into the air Monday at several military bases on the outskirts of the capital, Conakry. They took the army's second-in-command hostage.

No clashes have been reported since the current trouble began, but hospital officials say they have admitted at least 28 people with gunshot wounds, apparently from stray bullets fired into the air. Five of the injured were soldiers, the rest civilians.

The 15-member regional Economic Community of West African States said the Guinea crisis "put at risk the safety and security of the civilian population and poses a grave threat to the fragile peace in the entire" region.

The Nigeria-based group "appealed to all Guineans to act with a high sense of responsibility and to desist from any actions likely to plunge their country and its neighbors into conflict and instability."The neighboring countries of Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone are struggling to emerge from long civil wars.

Guinea has suffered riots and repeated mutinies for years under iron-fisted dictator Lansana Conte, who took power in a 1984 coup.Conte's grip on power depends largely on the loyalty of the army, and the government has previously given in to soldiers' demands for pay increases when they have threatened violence — though the actual pay-outs have rarely come through.

No gunfire was reported today, but banks and many shops remained closed.Around midday, about 300 people gathered near the city center calling on the soldiers to end the mutiny and give them peace. It was a rare pro-Conte demonstration in a country where striking citizens have regularly demanded the president step down.

The crowd shouted "Long live peace!" as it marched toward the presidency building. One of the marchers, an office worker in Parliament named Moussa Camara, said the demonstration had not been organized by the government but showed a true demand by residents for the mutiny to end.

The ramshackle seaside capital has been tense but calm since Thursday afternoon, when loyalist army Chief of Staff Gen. Diarra Camara called on soldiers taking part in the revolt to return to their barracks.Loyalist presidential guard units with rocket launchers patrolled the city center today in armored vehicles. Banks and many shops were closed and streets were deserted. There were no reports of gunfire.

Tensions began rising last week when Conte unexpectedly fired Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate, who soldiers said had pledged to pay them back wages and bonuses.The crisis had seemed to be easing Wednesday after the government agreed to meet several key demands, particularly a promise to pay each soldier 5 million Guinean francs — around $1,100 — within days.

The government also promised to free soldiers imprisoned in a similar revolt last year, and fired the defense minister, who had threatened to prosecute the mutinous soldiers.But gunfire broke out again as mutinous soldiers expressed concern their demands would not be met.

The mutineers are also calling for the country's top generals to resign, saying they are corrupt and have blocked lower-ranking officers from receiving promotions. The soldiers also want the already subsidized price of rice for the military to be reduced.Loyalist units and the mutineers had faced off against each other Thursday on a strategic bridge in the city. They fired into the air, but did shoot at one another.

Conte, the septuagenarian dictator, had agreed to appoint Kouyate — seen as a reformer — last year after intense union protests over his autocratic rule turned deadly and threatened to overturn the government.

Guinea, on Africa's western coast, has vast reserves of timber, gold, diamonds and bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum. Yet it is consistently listed as one of the world's poorest countries — a testament to misrule by the elite.

Associated Press writer Edward Harris contributed to this report from Lagos, Nigeria.