Mutiny finally over?

So the past few days have been rather tense in Guinea...Jen and I arrived in Conakry last Friday, hoping to leave for Boke on Wednesday and spend a few days there before returning to receive Cheryla, who is flying to visit for two weeks, this coming Thursday. Unfortunately, the Guinean military decided that wasn't really what we wanted to do and set off a mutiny whose low point was reached on Thursday, when young Army officers were in a standoff with the Presidential Guard in a sealed off downtown Conakry. Fortunately, calm has returned to Conakry, the Army and the president have reached an agreement, and gas stations are reopening as life returns to normal in the capital. There were never any problems outside of the capital, except in a few cities in the Forest Region of Guinea (where we haven't had volunteers in a number of years now). Fortunately, it appears that Cheryla will still be able to come without any problems, now that things have settled down...but for your reading enjoyment, I post a story that sums up pretty well the recent unrest in Guinea's capital. A note: since the story has come out, gas stations have reopened in Guinea and the hostages taken by the Army mutineers have been released.

Guinea pays troops in bid to end mutiny
Sat 31 May 2008, 7:19 GMT
By Saliou Samb

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea began paying salary arrears to junior soldiers on Friday in an attempt to end a five-day bloody mutiny that had worsened instability in the world's top bauxite exporter.
Calm returned to the capital Conakry but banks, schools and many large businesses were shut as people stayed at home after clashes since Monday between the mutineers and troops loyal to President Lansana Conte, who has ruled Guinea since 1984.
Several people, mostly civilians, were killed and dozens were wounded during fighting in Conakry and other towns after the junior soldiers revolted over pay at the largest army base in the former French colony.
The thud of heavy weapons and crackle of automatic gunfire stopped overnight.
The mutineers appeared to have returned to barracks to receive the first instalment of five million Guinean francs in salary arrears granted by new Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare earlier this week.
"We are queuing to receive 1 million Guinean francs each, representing our arrears," one soldier told Reuters by phone, declining to be identified. "Everyone here has decided and they say the (mutiny) is over."
An army general and presidential guard officers met the mutineers at the Alpha Yaya Diallo base on Friday. Sources close to the talks said good progress was made and that the mutineers had released two senior military officers seized this week.
MUTINEERS' DEMANDS
The mutineers have demanded the dismissal of the heads of the army, navy and air force, accusing them of corruption and stealing their salaries and food supplies.
Military insiders say the government is unlikely to agree to dismiss top officers, many of whom are staunch Conte supporters.
As night fell on Friday, pick-up trucks packed with heavily armed presidential guards returned to the November 8 bridge guarding the entrance to central Conakry, where the presidential palace and government offices are situated.
The mutiny occurred after Conte dismissed consensus Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate last week, 15 months after he was named to defuse a bloody general strike in which more than 130 people were killed.
"France is following the situation in Guinea with concern ... (and) only transparent and democratic legislative elections will provide a durable solution to the crisis," said a statement from the French embassy on Friday.
Analysts say Souare's prompt capitulation to mutineers' demands risks encouraging further unrest, against the backdrop of new strike threats by union leaders.
People returned to Conakry's central market and a thin trickle of taxis and minibuses were back on the coastal city's potholed roads.
Food prices were little changed in the market but fuel prices quintupled to more than 30,000 Guinean francs per litre after several service stations closed because of looting by mutineers.
The Friguia factory of Russian aluminium producer Rusal, the only plant in Guinea that refines crude bauxite ore, was operating normally, a company spokeswoman said in Moscow.
The plant has a capacity of 527,000 tonnes of alumina a year that it plans to increase eventually to 1.5 million.

Girls Conference

Well, this was a busy weekend. The g15ers (new volunteers) had their IST after three months at site in Mamou this weekend, and I traveled to Mamou for a meeting and to get stuff prepared for Girls Conference. On the Girls Conference front, great news - our fundraising proposal got approved, and in just about a week about 4,000 dollars have been donated to the Girls Conferences. Also, the volunteers seem to be genuinely excited to bring a girl to the conferences and we've gotten (almost) everyone signed up for the conferences.

This past weekend however, proved to be a rather tiring one however, just when I need all the energy I can get to push through these last two weeks at school. Oh well - let's hope these last two weeks fly by...

They won't.

Eh, short update - I'm exhausted...I'll do better one perhaps later on.