REFUGEE

Guinean opposition parties said they won’t take part in talks aimed at ending a political crisis in the West African country unless the leader of the military junta, Moussa Dadis Camara, resigns.

The parties, grouped under Les Forces Vives de la Nation, made the demand in an e-mailed statement in the capital, Conakry. Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore on Oct. 5 invited leaders of the junta and the opposition for talks in Ouagadougou, the Burkinian capital, to end the crisis in Guinea triggered by the massacre of more than 135 protesters by state security forces last month.

In addition to the resignation of Camara, the junta should be replaced by “a transition body that will appoint a government of national unity,” Forces Vives said in the statement.

Camara has denied responsibility for the Sept. 28 incident in which the army shot dead people protesting against his plans to run in elections scheduled for Jan. 31. The opposition claims more than 200 people died in the shootings, while at least 150 women were raped by members of the Guinean military in the crackdown after the protest.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday condemned the massacre and said the West African nation’s leaders must answer for the violence. She was “particularly appalled” by the violence against women.

Criminality

“It was criminality of the greatest degree and those who committed such acts should not be given any reason to expect that they will escape justice,” Clinton said. “There should be no impunity. And there should be an effort to bring those who were the leaders and perpetrators of the murders and rapes to justice very shortly.”

Camara seized power on Dec. 23, a day after the death of President Lansana Conte, who had ruled the country for two decades. Under Conte’s rule, elections were delayed and dissent repressed.

Following the killings, Camara said he doesn’t have “total control” of the army. He also told Radio France Internationale on Oct. 1 that he fears for his own safety, according to the British Broadcasting Corp.

Compaore, who was appointed by the 16-nation Economic Community of West African States to try to help mediate an end to the crisis, said peace in Guinea would be impossible without negotiations between the opposition and the junta.

Guinea is the world’s biggest exporter of bauxite, a raw material used in aluminum production.