Details of "coup attempt" sketchy

Details of Sunday's botched "coup attempt" in Guinea-Bissau remained sketchy on Tuesday, sources in the capital Bissau told IRIN. The whereabouts of several military officials arrested in the aftermath, also remained unclear.

"No gunshots were heard and no suspicious troop movement was witnessed in the city even after the announcement [of the coup attempt by the government]," a source said. "The capital was calm and business went on as usual on Monday and Tuesday," he added.

Interior Minister Alamara Nhasse was reported by the Portuguese news agency, LUSA, as telling journalists on Monday that the coup had been in preparation for "some time".

"For six months, [Lt-Col Almami] Camara has been leading a large group of discontented soldiers and paramilitaries", Nhasse was quoted by LUSA as saying. "This group planned the formation of a provisional government, possessed a list of people to assassinate, and aimed at assuming control of the state," he reportedly added.

Camara was deputy army chief following the 11-month civil war in 1998/99 in which more than 2,000 people died, LUSA said. In late November 2000, he was detained along with 118 other soldiers on suspicion of involvement in an attempted coup led by General Anusumane Mane - who had overthrown president Nino Vieira in 1999. After a few days on the run, Mane was eventually killed by government forces.

An interior ministry statement said Camara was arrested along with former navy officer Lamine Mane. Several other officers were on the run the statement said on Monday.

For months now, Guinea-Bissau has been in the throes of a constitutional crisis with the president dismissing some Supreme Court judges and jailing others. The government is paralysed and faces a parliament in which its supporters are in the minority.