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Most Opponents of Guinea Military Reject Power-Sharing Plan

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Opposition alliance refuse regional mediator, Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore's plan for interim government, which includes Guinea's military ruler Captain Moussa Camara

Most opponents of Guinea's military government are rejecting a power-sharing plan put forward by the regional mediator, Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore.

Burkinabe President Compaore wants to resolve Guinea's political crisis with a transitional government that includes members of the military and its political opponents.

But most of the leaders of that opposition alliance say they will not take part in any interim authority that includes military ruler Captain Moussa Camara and members of the council that has run Guinea since last December's coup.

Bah Oury, the vice president of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces, says President Compaore is not following the recommendations of leaders from the Economic Community of West African States or the International Contact Group on Guinea. Oury says the mediator's mandate was clear: to arrange the peaceful departure of the military and establish a transitional government to resolve the crisis.

Instead of doing that, Oury says, President Compaore is proposing to give more power to the ruling military council than the council was asking for. So that is why he says civil society groups reject the mediator's proposal.

President Compaore was appointed by ECOWAS leaders to mediate the crisis following September's killing of at least 157 opposition demonstrators. They were protesting the expected presidential candidacy of Captain Camara when witnesses say soldiers opened fire in Conakry's main sports stadium.

Former prime minister François Louncey Fall says the proposed transitional government rewards those responsible for that violence.

The 30-member interim authority under the Compaore plan has 10 positions for civil society, 10 positions for the ruling military council, and 10 positions for other groups that Fall believes would be close to the military.

He says taking part in that arrangement gives the opposition one-third of the power, while he says it represents a far greater portion of the population. Fall says agreeing to that government would be like promoting those responsible for the violence of September 28.

Former Prime Minister Sidya Toure says President Compaore needs to try again.

Toure says the opposition alliance is rejecting President Compaore's proposal because it does not conform with the demands of civil society. He says there should be a new dialogue to come up with a document based more on consensus that better takes into account the views of all sides.

But not all of the military's opponents reject President Compaore's plan. Former prime minister Cellou Diallo says the proposal recognizes the realities of power in Conakry.

Diallo says the proposal is a good idea because if the opposition is insisting that Captain Camara leave power, it will be very complicated because Diallo says Captain Camara can not and will not leave power for many reasons. Diallo says he thinks that the opposition alliance nominating a vice president is a good idea.

Captain Camara has not announced his candidacy, but he has told his supporters he will not insult them by ignoring their demands that he run for president.

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