Army stages coup in Guinea as soon as president dies

A military faction declared a coup in Guinea today, less than six hours after the death of the West African nation's hardline dictator was announced.

The group, the National Council for Democracy, said it had dissolved the government and constitution the day after the death of president Lansana Conte.

A uniformed spokesman for the group, identified as army captain Moussa Camara, began broadcasting an announcement of the takeover on state-run radio and TV at 7.30am..

"The constitution is dissolved," he said "The government is dissolved. The institutions of the republic are dissolved. From this moment on, the council is taking charge of the destiny of the Guinean people." He said presidential elections would be organised shortly, but did not elaborate.

Capt Camara said citizens should stay at home and ordered the heads of government to gather at an army barracks known as Alpha Yaya camp, which has been the seat of army mutinies against Conte's rule.

Six hours earlier, the head of the armed forces had stood at the side of the president of the National Assembly, Aboubacar Sompare, as they broadcast the news that Mr Conte had died.

The mineral-rich but impoverished nation of 10 million has been ruled by only two men since it gained independence from France half a century ago.It had long been predicted that a military coup would follow the death of president Conte, who took power in a military coup after the death of his predecessor in 1984. The show of military and government unity gave the impression the army might allow the transfer of power to follow the rule of law, which calls for the head of the National Assembly to be sworn in as the new president.

Mr Sompare called on the Supreme Court to follow the constitution and name him president. He was also flanked by numerous officers, giving the appearance that politicians and the military had agreed on a course of action.

Mr Conte was believed to have been in his seventies and in poor health. He ruled with an iron fist for 24 years, and was one of the last members of a dwindling group of African "Big Men" who came to power by the gun and resisted the democratic tide sweeping the continent.

The 1984 coup was carried out a week after the death of president Ahmed Sekou Toure, who had ruled Guinea since 1958 when the country became independent from France who had ruled it since the beginning of the 20th century.