A Little Bit of Drama

We are in Conakry still and are planning on leaving tomorrow - yesterday we just layed low here at the compound (swimming, internet, a SATC marathon). While I cannot comment on Guinean politics, I can point out 2 things. 1. the soldiers will all be receiving 5 million francs in back pay (a teacher is paid 250,000 a month) and 2. last night soldiers vandalized gas stations, held people in restaurants up at gunpoint and took all their money and 3. took some government officials hostage. Today their demands were met. I don't like guns.

An AP article is below. Rest assured that all is calm and we are fine. My biggest concern right now is that it's 11am and I haven't eaten anything today!

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Guinea's new prime minister announced a deal to pay mutinous soldiers years of salary arrears, effectively ending the West African nation's latest crisis.
Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare said in a televised statement late Tuesday that the government would pay soldiers 5 million Guinean francs — around US$1,100 — each for back-pay and raises stretching back over the last eight years.

Conakry, the capital, was quiet Wednesday for the first time since sporadic gunfire began echoing across the city Monday from military bases in town.

"I appeal on the military to stay calm," Souare said, adding the government would gradually begin paying the salary arrears at the end of the month.

Guinea has been tense since last week, when President Lansana Conte unexpectedly fired Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate, who came to power last year after deadly demonstrations led by unions angry over Conte's long rule. The soldiers said Kouyate had promised to pay soldiers years of back-pay and began revolting on hearing rumors they would not receive it.
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 its misrule by the elite.

Conte, the septuagenarian dictator, has ruled the country since a 1984 coup.

Gunfire could be heard from two main military camps in Conakry on Monday and Tuesday, and soldiers in trucks crisscrossed the capital, shooting in the air for more than one hour at midday Tuesday. But the ramshackle seaside city fell calm by late afternoon when President Conte's convoy drove inside one of the bases, Camp Samory, in an apparent bid to negotiate with disgruntled soldiers, witnesses said.

Also Tuesday, Conte fired Defense Minister Bailo Diallo, one of several demands made by junior officers.

At least two civilians were wounded by stray bullets, including a young girl and man, witnesses said.

The unions had wanted Conte to step down last year, but Kouyate's appointment was a compromise. Conte had managed to retain power by agreeing to name a prime minister from a list approved by the unions.

Other demands of the soldiers included the release of an unspecified number of soldiers who took part in a three-day revolt at the Alpha Yaya Diallo barracks a year ago.