UPDATED ON:
FRIDAY, MAY 04, 2007
18:56 MECCA TIME, 15:56 GMT
 
NEWS AFRICA
Two killed in Guinea army riots
Guinea's military are demanding unpaid salaries totalling about $100,000 [Reuters]

Soldiers rioting over unpaid wages in Guinea have shot dead two people and wounded dozens of others as they rampaged through several cities and towns in the west African country.
 
A soldier and a civilian night watchman were reported killed while 73 people, mostly civilians, were said to have been wounded in the protests which began on Wednesday.
A senior army official who asked not to be named said: "A corporal was killed yesterday [Thursday] by a sergeant at Labe, where gunfire was heard on Wednesday and Thursday evening."
 
Labe is in central Guinea, some 200km north east of Conakry, Guinea's capital.

Soldiers shot the security guard on Thursday night after he said he would denounce them after they left their barracks in the town of Nzerekore in the east of the country, a member of his family said.

Violence was also reported in several other towns, including Macenta, Kankan, Nzerekore and Faranah.

Masked soldiers
 
The trouble began on Wednesday when members of the military who are demanding unpaid salaries totalling about $100,000 began revolting against some of their commanders.

The army has alleged that the authorities have been holding back wages since 1996, the year when one mutiny claimed the lives of 300 soldiers.

Trouble started on Wednesday at the country's largest camp,  Alpha Yaya Diallo, situated near the capitals's airport and where Lansana Conte's, the country's ailing president, is situated.

The camp houses elite commando and parachute units, and is also the army headquarters.

On Wednesday night masked soldiers attacked and ransacked the residence of Kerfalla Camara, the army commander.

Calm was reported to have returned Friday to the affected areas.

The rioting by an army that has shored up Conte's rule for years is the first to hit the new government of Lansana Kouyate, Guinea's prime minister, who was appointed in April after weeks of strikes against the regime.

Source: Agencies
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