Guinea's Camara shot

This broke late yesterday (with the AP biffing the first report, saying it was his Presidential Guard that shot him... it wasn't), and now the details are coming in.

Junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara of Guinea (the former French Guinea) was shot by the troops of one of his Lieutenants. Camara is reportedly still alive. The fate of the shooter is not clear; he may have escaped any quick reprisal, or he might have been dropped in a dark hole already.

The whereabouts of Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakite, the officer allegedly behind the attack, is unclear.

(Communications Minister Idrissa) Cherif had said he had been arrested after the shooting but reports on Friday say road-blocks have been set up in Conakry by security forces trying to find him.

Government minister Keletigui Faro told the BBC that Lt Diakite had gone into hiding.

Just for explanation's sake, it should be noted that most of the blame for the massive army rampage against civilians in Guinea last September is being laid at the feet of A. Diakite, with fingers pointing within and without the Junta.

Mark Doyle of the BBC has it like this:

It appears that what happened on Thursday night is that Capt Dadis Camara travelled from his stronghold in one military camp on the outskirts of Conakry to meet Lt Aboubacar Diakite, known as "Toumba", at another military camp in the centre of the city.

A firefight then broke out between the forces of the two men. Reports say Capt Camara was injured, and then, with helicopter support, was evacuated from the area. What is not yet known is why the leader of the junta decided to confront Toumba at this time.

Tensions have been high since late September when soldiers massacred scores of pro-democracy activists who were demonstrating at a rally in a football stadium.

A UN commission of enquiry is currently in Guinea trying to establish which soldiers were responsible. Diplomats say Toumba was present at the stadium when the killings took place - but so were other officers who remained loyal to Captain Dadis.

Capt. Dadis = Capt. Camara, if that wasn't clear in context.

Anyway, Senegal sent in doctors to treat Camara, and now the word is that he has been flown out to Morocco...

Communications Minister Idrissa Cherif said Capt Camara was "walking and talking and doing fine", the AP news agency reports.

He told Reuters that the military leader had gone to Morocco for a check-up.

...and that is when your "sense of disbelief" should kick in.

*NO ONE* at the head of a military Junta *EVER* leaves his faction's place of power in the face of a mutiny or counter-coup, and expects to come back home any time soon.

Camara is either at death's door, or has been told by one of his troop leaders that he is no longer the man-in-charge, or he and his camp followers are getting out with as much of the loot as they can before civil war breaks out.

Count on it.

T.I.A.

***

Update:

Reuters Africa now has it as surgery required for a head wound.

Guinea's junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara faces a likely operation in a Moroccan clinic after being hit by bullets in a gun attack, Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore said on Friday.

The statement by Compaore, citing Camara's personal doctor, appeared to contradict an earlier statement by the Guinean junta that he was only slightly wounded in the attack late on Thursday by his former aide de camp.

Expect the reports to move closer to accurate over the day.