Coup Attempt in Guinea After Strongman Dies+

The leader of a coup in Guinea and several thousand soldiers paraded through the capital Wednesday as cheering crowds screamed "long live the president!" Renegade army Capt. Moussa Camara said his group would hold power until elections in two years.

Cautiously at first and then by the thousand, people lined streets to applaud Camara, a virtual unknown until the death two days ago of longtime dictator Lansana Conte set in motion a political upheaval.

He stood in the first truck of a military convoy en route to the presidential palace and waved to the throng. A phalanx of soldiers hoisting Kalashnikovs accompanied the parade.

"I came to see if the terrain is favorable to us. I see that it is," Camara told those in the crowd, many of whom waved tree branches in celebration.

It was the first time the capital's residents had ventured outdoors since the military-led coup was declared Tuesday in this broken West African nation.

[Update]""Guinea coup leaders order curfew

Soldiers who say they seized power in Guinea after the death of the president on Monday have declared an overnight curfew throughout the country.

Junior officers leading the coup warned generals loyal to the government not to use mercenaries to regain power.

Guinea's prime minister has insisted the government is still in control, but the situation remains unclear.

Observers fear unrest in Guinea could spread in a region enjoying relative stability after years of conflict.

In other developments:

• Captain Moussa Dadis Camara has been named as president of the new junta, according to a statement on national radio
• The funeral of President Lansana Conte is to take place on Friday in his home village.""
  

The 24-year reign of Guinea’s president, one of Africa’s longest-ruling strongmen, ended in confusion and chaos on Tuesday as a group of soldiers seized on his death to proclaim a coup that was immediately challenged by government officials.

Eric Gaillard/Reuters

President Lansana Conté and President Jacques Chirac of France July 1999.

Troops in armored personnel carriers took to the streets of Conakry, the capital of Guinea, an impoverished West African state, but there were no immediate reports of bloodshed, according to news agencies. Rather, the “putsch,” as one lawmaker called it, began to unfold in time-honored fashion with a group of officers taking control of the airwaves to announce that the Constitution and the government had been suspended.