UN Probe Blames Camara For Guinea Killings: Reports

MOUSSA DADIS CAMARA. Photo: Reuters.

Guinea's junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara bears direct responsibility for the September 28 killings by security forces of more than 150 pro-democracy marchers, the French daily Le Monde quoted a U.N. inquiry as saying on Monday.

Guinea, the world's top exporter of bauxite and a pivotal country for the security of West Africa, has been on the brink of chaos since the massacre and a botched assassination attempt against Camara on December 3 by his former aide de camp.

Camara, who has not been seen in public since he was rushed to Morocco for medical treatment after the attempt on his life, could face international prosecution for crimes against humanity if the conclusions are confirmed.

"The commission considers there are sufficient grounds for presuming direct criminal responsibility by President Moussa Dadis Camara," Le Monde's website said, quoting the report which was delivered to the U.N. Security Council and African regional bodies at the weekend.

It asked that the International Criminal Court to take action against Camara and members of his entourage for crimes against humanity that involved mass killings, rape and sexual mutilations of opposition supporters, Le Monde said.

Guinean Communications Minister Idriss Cherif told Reuters he had not studied the report but complained of a "procedural fault in the manner in which the report has been communicated".

"I get the impression people want to speed things up as if it were a race against the clock. It is not normal," Cherif said by telephone.

Camara's absence from Guinea 18 days after suffering head injuries described by the junta as superficial has aroused speculation that his condition is worse than thought and that he is under Western-backed pressure to go into exile.

"He is still in hospital for his treatment. We have nothing more to say for now," Moroccan Foreign Minister Taief Fassi Fihri told Reuters in Rabat.

700 INTERVIEWS

Le Monde said the U.N. inquiry, based on 700 interviews conducted by three investigators in the capital Conakry in late November and early February, corroborated witness reports that more than 150 people were killed or went missing at the rally.

At least 109 girls and women were subjected to rape, sexual mutilation and sequestration for repeated rape, with hundreds more people subjected to torture and abuse.

The report termed the killings and rape as "systematic" and "organised", contradicting Camara's initial argument that unruly elements of the army were to blame.

Le Monde said that, apart from Camara himself, the inquiry held as responsible his former aide and would-be assassin, Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakite, and another Camara ally, Claude Pivi.

It did not say whether Defence Minister Sekouba Konate, who is now in charge of the country, was cited in the report.

Konate, a professional soldier seen as having few political ambitions, is believed by some in the West as more likely than Camara to allow a transition to civilian rule.

Konate has restored a degree of calm to Guinea and has vowed to clamp down on a culture of indiscipline in the army, but has so far made no public reference to civilian rule.