AU Sanctions Guinean Junta Leader

(PANA)-- The African Union (AU) Friday imposed sanctions against Guinean junta leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, over his refusal to conduct an election free of military interference.

The AU said the sanctions would take effect within the next 30 days. AU’s peace and security council (PSC) said it had imposed the sanctions that it could only lift if the Guinean junta leader renounced his bid to run for the presidency in the elections he promised after seizing power following the death of president Lansana Conte.

Camara, who took power in a bloodless military coup hours after the death of Conte, was initially hailed as a revolutionary who pledged to fight corruption entrenched during the reign of Conte and was widely cheered at home. He pledged to the AU Commission chairperson Jean Ping during the burial of the late president that elections would be held within six months of his taking power in late December 2008.

However, the elections date has been pushed to 2010. The AU said Camara and senior members of his National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) would also be subjected to the targeted sanctions. ‘The council decided to impose appropriate sanctions against the president of the CNDD and all other individuals, both civilian and military, whose activities are in contravention of those commitments’, the AU said.

The sanctions will take effect within a period of one month from the 17 September if the concerned individuals do not formally confirm those commitments and ensure their respect, a statement released after the PSC meeting reiterated.

Camara has not explicitly announced his intention to run for the presidency during the elections, whose first round is expected around 31 January 2010, but it is expected that he would present himself for the elections. In August, the ruling junta indicated that the elections might be deferred further and refuted earlier suggestions that the junta leaders would stay away from the polls to make them free and fair.

The PSC ‘strongly condemns’ the denial by Camara, of his recent efforts to ignore his earlier commitment that neither himself, nor other members of the CNDD, including the Prime Minister Kabine Komara, will be candidates for the presidential election. The US and a host of international observers have been calling on the Guinean junta to stage an election free from the junta interference .

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