Guinea coup leader will not stand

Guinea's military coup leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara has said he will not run in forthcoming elections.

Capt Camara said none of the other leaders who helped bring him to power in December's coup would run either.

Capt Camara came to power in a bloodless coup after the death of President Lansana Conte, who had ruled Guinea for 24 years.

Polls are due to take place in Guinea, a mineral rich but poverty-stricken country, at the end of the year.

Politicians criticised

"We're heading into elections. I am not going to run and the members of the CNDD (National Council for the Defence of Democracy) are also not going to run," Capt Camara was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

But despite ruling himself out of the running, the captain criticised politicians for trying to force the military to leave power early, the agency reported.

In April, two army officers were arrested on suspicion of plotting a coup, as Capt Camara prepared for his first official trip outside the country.

More than a third of the world's bauxite reserves are in Guinea, but its people are among the poorest in West Africa.