A top UN official arrived in Guinea on Sunday to lead an international probe into a massacre of opposition supporters, as the junta chief put off a decision on whether he will stand for president.

Junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara has come under mounting international pressure to step down following the massacre in September of scores of demonstrators at a Conakry stadium who were demanding he relinquish power.

The African Union had given Camara until midnight on Saturday to promise in writing not to stand in the January 2010 presidential election, as he had vowed when he seized power in a bloodless coup in December.

A failure to comply could lead to sanctions, with the body's Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra again raising that possibility after Camara said he wanted to discuss his standing for election.

The AU supports Guinea sanctions.

Junta placed under pressure

"Legally speaking, the deadline has expired but politically, we are still working to put pressure on the junta. It's the result that matters most," Lamamra said, urging support for top mediator Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore.

"We are waiting to hear back from Compaore to see whether or not the junta is changing its position... If he tells us that they are sticking to their guns, then sanctions will be enforced," Lamamra added.

On Saturday, a summit of the 15-country Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which has already suspended Guinea as a member, slapped an arms embargo on the country after the junta sought to buy more weapons.

France hailed the summit as a success, with Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner saying that "the killers and rapists must be identified, tried and punished, as well as those who ordered these acts".

But Guinea's Foreign Minister Alexandre Cece Loua said Camara was still unwilling to comply with demands to stand aside, and was instead calling for international mediation.

Sanctions would not solve the problem, Cece Loua added.

Aside from sanctions, Camara is also facing international investigations over the 28 September massacre.

UN Assistant Secretary General Haile Menkerios arrived in Conakry early on Sunday to meet Camara as well as opposition figures.

"I am here to pass on a message from the secretary general, who is ready to send a commission of inquiry, [because] all the neighbouring African countries were shocked by the events of 28 September," Menkerios told reporters.

Menkerios met Camara and Guinean Prime Minister Kabine Komara, who vowed the government would cooperate with the UN panel set up to investigate the recent violence.

'Very, very sorry'

"The prime minister assured me that the government welcomes the investigation and will cooperate with it," Menkerios said.

At least 157 people were killed when government troops opened fire on demonstrators at a football stadium in Conakry. The junta says 56 people died.

Local rights groups also say 1200 people were injured, including many women who were raped by soldiers during the crackdown.

The junta has come under increasing pressure over the crackdown, with the International Criminal Court in The Hague also investigating.

Camara has said he is "very, very sorry" for the killings, but has also sought to distance himself from the events, saying he could not control the army.

The junta itself on Saturday appointed a commission to investigate the killings, with slots allotted to judges, lawyers, doctors as well as pro-junta and opposition political parties and members of human rights groups.

However, leaders of numerous civil and human rights groups, as well as opposition groups have declared their intention to boycott the commission.

West African leaders fear the crisis in Guinea — the world's top exporter of bauxite, the most important aluminium ore — could erupt into civil war and destabilise the region.

Authorities there turned away six French television journalists at Conakry airport on Saturday — three reporters from the France 24 news channel and three journalists from public broadcaster France 2, their employers said on Sunday.

According to press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, several Guinean journalists have received death threats for "giving information to foreigners".

AFP

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