CONAKRY, Guinea — Guinea’s coup leader solidified his hold over this impoverished West African nation Thursday as the prime minister who served under its late dictator surrendered and stepped down along with dozens of other government leaders.
While some welcomed new military leader Capt. Moussa Camara as a break with the past, others worried he will try to cling to power like the strongman whose death this week touched off the political crisis.
Camara had ordered Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare and other leaders of Guinea’s government and armed forces to come out of hiding and turn themselves in at a military barracks within 24 hours. If they did not, he threatened to organize a nationwide search for them.
Souare’s mother, Aissatou, said in a phone interview that her son was no longer prime minister and that he and the other ministers went to the barracks to avoid being hunted down.
Souare had not been seen in public since Camara’s group of junior officers declared a coup Tuesday, though he had claimed a day later to be still in control. Souare served under Lansana Conte, the country’s longtime dictator who died Monday.
Camara has declared himself Guinea’s interim leader and pledged to hold a presidential election in two years. But many in the international community say that is too long to wait.
The European Union urged Guinea to hold “democratic and transparent” elections within the first three months of 2009.
In radio broadcasts Thursday, Camara said he had no intention of being a candidate in the December 2010 vote but that his group wants to re-establish order and crack down on corruption.
“I want to warn anyone who thinks they can try to corrupt me or my agents. Money is of no interest to us,” Camara said. “There are already people who are starting to show up with bags of money to try to corrupt us. They’ve tried to give money to our wives and cars to our children. I will personally go after anyone who tries to corrupt us.”
