Guinean president in Burkina Faso

Camara had not appeared in public since being evacuated to Rabat for medical treatment after being shot in the head by his aide during a dispute, allegedly over a bloody crackdown on an opposition rally.

Troops under Camara’s command massacred at least 156 pro-democracy demonstrators at an opposition rally in Guinea’s capital of Conakry on September 28.

Avoid arrest

Mamadou Bah Baadikko, who leads an opposition party in Guinea, said the US had been putting pressure on Morocco to turn over Camara to a European country where he could more easily be jailed if the International Criminal Court, based in the hague in the Netherlands, issues a warrant for his arrest.

“He left for Burkina because he had become a difficult guest for the Moroccans,” Baadikko told the Associated Press news agency.

“There was an enormous amount of pressure from the Americans, who wanted
Camara to be sent to a third country, we are told Spain. So they sent him to
Ouagadougou.”

Blaise Compaore, Burkina Faso’s president, is seen as an ally of Camara. During the tense weeks following the massacre Compaore offered to negotiate between the embattled leader and the opposition.

However, he was widely seen as being biased in Camara’s favour, and the
deal he proposed would have extended Camara’s time as president.

Camara took power after the death of Lansana Conte, the country’s longtime dictator.

Many had hoped he would lift the country from a dark era of harsh rule and poverty, but after a year as leader, he was under increasing criticised for following in Conte’s footsteps.