The head of the Guinean military junta, Moussa Dadis Camara, on Sunday launched an appeal for calm among his nationals after a deal was signed to hold the presidential elections in six months.
Camara is in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, to continue his medical treatment for head wounds after airlifted on Tuesday from a military hospital in Morocco. The 45-year-old junta leader had been there for one month since sustaining gunshots in early December.
A declaration on a way out of the crisis was made on Friday in the presence of Guinea's interim president Sekouba Konate and Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore, who was named as mediator by the West African bloc ECOWAS.
Camara spoke directly to Guineans for the first time after the attempted assassination against him by his aide de camp on Dec. 3, 2009,
asking them to respect the accord signed to form a transitional government pending a vote.
"I was in my right mind when I agreed to sign the Ouagadougou Declaration on Jan. 15, 2010," he said, reiterating that the accord was
not imposed on him.
Pointing out that his health had greatly improved and that his life was out of danger, Camara affirmed that he is able to walk and that
in order for him to get much better, he needed a rest and a close medical surveillance.
He noted that he knew that since the time he moved to Ouagadougou, a good number of his countrymen were camping at the Conakry airport and on the capital streets to demand his return to the country.
"I appeal to you to peacefully go back to your homes and also ask that God bless our country," he said.
Even though Compaore is managing to calm the pro-Dadis camp, observers fear that the situation will degenerate again because the pressure groups (opposition parties and trade unions) do not want to see members of the ruling National Council for Democracy and Development in the government of national unity.
Two personalities from the pressure groups, Jean Marie Dore and Rabiatou Sera Diallo, are being proposed for the post of the prime minister. But both men refused to go to Ouagadougou as scheduled meet with Compaore and Konate on Saturday.
In justifying their refusal, they insist that the issue of Guine must be sorted out in Conakry.
Analysts have said the two are fearing to take part in a government imposed on them from Ouagadougou as they did not participate in
negotiating the deal.
Their refusal to go to Ouagadougou appears to be the first sign of disagreement only a day after the joint signing of the Ouagadougou
Declaration.
Under the newly inked deal, elections will be organized after a transition period of six months and Camara will continue to get his
convalescence in Ouagadougou.
Uncertainty remains in Guinea since the military junta headed by Camara seized power on Dec. 23, 2008 after the death of President
Lansana Conte. Tensions have been escalating since the presidential guard clashed on Sept. 28 with opposition protesters, who were gathering against Camara's bid to run in the upcoming elections.
Human rights organizations reported up to 157 were killed, more than 1,200 others were injured and dozens of women were raped in the confrontation.
Talks on a solution had a breakthrough in the absence of Camara before he was sent to Ouagadougou for signing the agreement, which
immediately met with worldwide applause, but doubts from the opposition.