{"id":26681,"date":"2011-07-21T00:46:09","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T04:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=26681"},"modified":"2011-07-21T00:46:09","modified_gmt":"2011-07-21T04:46:09","slug":"guinea-soldiers-arrested-for-attack-on-presidents-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=26681","title":{"rendered":"Guinea soldiers arrested for attack on president’s home"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least 37 soldiers have been arrested in Guinea following the attack on President Alpha Conde’s home, officials say.\u00a0 (Photo: Alpha Conde)<\/em><\/p>\n

The detained soldiers include high-ranking officers who were close to Guinea’s former military junta, the officials said.<\/p>\n

The junta handed power to Mr Conde last year after he won elections.<\/p>\n

Forces loyal to Mr Conde repelled the attack on his private residence in the capital, Conakry, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Officials said the building was hit by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades.<\/p>\n

At least one guard was killed, several more wounded and parts of the house were destroyed.<\/p>\n

Mr Conde – Guinea’s first democratically elected president – escaped unhurt.<\/p>\n

‘Change will continue’<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said the attack could destabilise Guinea and destroy efforts to build democracy.<\/p>\n

“Ecowas calls for the perpetrators of this attack to be brought before the competent courts to answer for their actions,” it said.<\/p>\n

The BBC’s Alhassan Sillah in Conakry says the arrested soldiers include former army chief Gen Nouhou Thiam, two colonels and members of the presidential guard of ex-military ruler Gen Sekouba Konate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Alpha Conde's residence was hit by at least one rocket<\/p><\/div>\n

Alpha Conde<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Aged 73<\/li>\n
  • First democratically elected leader since independence<\/li>\n
  • Long-time opposition leader<\/li>\n
  • Jailed several times<\/li>\n
  • Ethnic Malinke<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    But Gen Konate – who is outside Guinea – has denounced the attack in media interviews, our reporter says.<\/p>\n

    He returned the country to civilian rule last year following widespread domestic and international pressure.<\/p>\n

    Our reporter says Conakry is returning to normality but soldiers are continuing to search vehicles, causing huge traffic jams.<\/p>\n

    Mr Conde called for calm in a state TV broadcast following the attack.<\/p>\n

    \n

    “Our enemies can try everything, but they cannot prevent the Guinean people’s march towards democracy. Democracy has begun and it will continue, I promised you change and, God willing, change will happen,<\/strong>” he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Last year, Mr Conde – a veteran opposition leader – won the first democratic elections since independence in 1958.<\/p>\n

    Guinea has a history of coups and ethnic conflict.<\/p>\n

    It has been particularly unstable since 2008 when President Lansana Conte, who ruled for 24 years, died.<\/p>\n

    BBC News<\/em><\/p>\n

    Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    At least 37 soldiers have been arrested in Guinea following the attack on President Alpha Conde’s home, officials say.\u00a0 (Photo: Alpha Conde) The detained soldiers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[751,1],"tags":[1716,3915,9324,935,8255],"class_list":["post-26681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-news","category-uncategorized","tag-african-democracy","tag-alpha-conde","tag-conakry-guinea","tag-democracy","tag-president-alpha-conde"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}