JAKARTA - Leaders of a military coup in Guinea pledged on Monday to form a transitional government of national unity, after ousting President Alpha Conde and dissolving his cabinet.
Sunday's coup, in which President Conde and other top politicians were detained or barred from travel, was the third since April in West and Central Africa, raising concerns about the retreat of military rule in a region that has made strides towards multi-party democracy since the 1990s. an.
The takeover was widely condemned by international powers, putting pressure on new military leaders to offer plans beyond the overthrow of the old order, and to assure significant Guinean ore export investors would not be disrupted.
"Consultation will be carried out to determine the main framework of the transition, then a national unity government will be placed to lead the transition," coup leader Mamady Doumbouya, a former French legionnaire officer, told a meeting of Conde ministers and senior government officials.
"At the end of this transitional phase, we will set the tone for a new era of governance and economic development," he said, flanked by armed soldiers in red berets.
Doumbouya did not say what would happen with the transition or give a date for the return of democratic elections.
His power struggle has been bolstered by widespread discontent with President Conde, who has failed to deliver on his promises of a stable democracy but after coming to power vehemently silenced opponents, failed to tackle poverty and last year decided to run for a third term, a move that was criticized and said to be illegal.
The coup was welcomed by many, but frightened the mining sector. Guinea has the world's largest reserves of bauxite, the ore used to produce aluminium. Metal prices surged to a 10-year high on Monday, although there were no signs of a supply disruption.
To quell fears, Doumbouya said maritime borders would remain open, so mining products could be exported. The current curfew does not apply to the mining sector.
"I can assure business and economic partners, domestic activities will run normally. We ask mining companies to continue their activities," he said.
Meanwhile, a military spokesman said on television that land and air borders had also been reopened. However, Doumbouya barred government officials from leaving the country and ordered them to hand over official vehicles.
The politicians attending Monday's meeting were then escorted by soldiers in red berets, through the jeering crowd to the headquarters of the Conakry army unit.
Two diplomatic sources said Prime Minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, Minister for Presidential Affairs Mohamed Diané and National Assembly Speaker Amadou Damaro Camara had been arrested.
Separately, Amnesty International, in a statement on Monday, called on coup leaders to clarify the legal basis for Conde's detention, and to release those arbitrarily detained in the months surrounding last year's election.
As previously reported, the elite forces of Guinea's national army announced they had seized power, ousting President Alpha Conde in a coup attempt, after gunfire around the presidential palace in Conakry, Sunday local time.
The army announced the country's leadership had been ousted, in the latest political upheaval to hit the mineral-rich and impoverished west African nation, amid conflicting claims about who is in power.
Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, head of the unit and leader of the coup attempt, said in a brief speech on national broadcaster Radio Television Guinea that the country's parliament and constitution had been suspended, borders were closed.
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