Captain Moussa Dadis Camara rose from relative obscurity to lead a coup in Guinea and then declare himself the new president, but his peers say he is no stranger to mutiny.

The junior officer, in his forties, spent 17 years in the army before catapulting himself into the limelight after the death late on Monday of veteran dictator Lansana Conte, who had ruled Guinea with an iron fist since 1984.

Fellow soldiers say Camara took part in a large-scale army mutiny in 2007 when incensed soldiers went on the rampage to demand huge salary arrears and better work conditions. The ensuing violence claimed at least eight lives.

He was also one of the leading players in another rebellion last May when rioting soldiers forced the government to produce their outstanding wages and to free detained soldiers.

Born to a farming family in the village of Koure in remote southeastern Guinea, the typically clean shaven and rangy Camara studied law and economics at Conakry’s Abdel Nasser University.

His classmates describe him as an average student.

Camara joined the army in 1990, six years after Conte, a career soldier, seized power in a coup following the death of Guinea’s founding president. Camara trained briefly in Germany but only rose through the ranks as far as captain.

Fellow putschists attest to Camara’s leadership qualities, describing him as a man of fierce ambition who possesses strong social skills and a reputation that he can get things done.

Camara does not just rely on others to promote him, having already described himself as a generous man who is fiercely patriotic.

“I tell you this, I did not come to power by accident, it is due to a lot of qualities, I am a patriot,” he said at a press conference late on Wednesday in which he declared himself “the president of the republic”.—AFP