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.
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