CONAKRY (Guinea), Jan 7: The junta that seized power of Guinea has arrested several former high-ranking military officials who were suspected of planning a counter coup, including the country’s former army chief of staff, officers said.

Gen Diarra Camara and four others were taken into custody over the weekend, according to an officer at Camp Almamy Samory Toure who spoke on condition of anonymity late on Tuesday, citing fear of reprisals. A second lieutenant at Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo, speaking on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said all those arrested were loyalists of longtime dictator Lansana Conte, whose death late last month plunged the West African nation into political turmoil.

A group led by Capt. Moussa Camara seized the airwaves hours after Conte’s death and declared a coup. Days later, coup leaders issued a declaration on state radio saying all military generals of the former regime had been demoted.

The other former high-ranking military officers arrested over the weekend were former naval chief Ali Daffe, his deputy Fassiriman Traore, Army Col. Vivace Sylla and commandant Issiaga Camara, the officers and relatives said.

“It was on Sunday when the red berets came here to bring him to Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo,” said Bountouraby Daffe, the son of the former naval chief. “Since then, we’ve had no news and we are worried.”

The international community has condemned the Dec 23 coup in Guinea. On Monday, the French government said that Guinea’s coup leaders have ceded to pressure and have promised to hold elections by the end of 2009, a year earlier than they initially planned.

But people in Guinea have largely welcomed Camara, the 44-year-old coup leader, seeing in his age and junior rank signs that he is not part of the corrupt elite that brought the nation to the brink of economic collapse.—AP