Mercenaries said training Guinea troops

CONAKRY, Guinea, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Troops loyal to Guinea President Moussa Dadis Camara's ruling junta are being trained by South African mercenaries, a diplomat says.

Word of advanced training of Guinea forces loyal to Camara, an army captain who seized power in a bloodless coup d'etat last December, comes as violence was reported in the African nation's capital, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

"We have instructions that they are mercenaries who are training people of the same ethnic origin as the head of the coup d'etat," the unnamed Western diplomat said.

"We already have more and more reports of abductions and violence in the streets of Conakry."

Camara's security forces have been accused of raping dozens of women and killing more than 150 protesters on Sept. 28.

The Journal said the street violence, coupled with the report of mercenaries being used to train troops, prompted widespread fears of impending violence between Camara's Guerze ethnic group and the Peulh, the largest ethnic group in Guinea.