20091213

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Guinea, whose military leader was the target of a botched assassination attempt last week, needs a West African protection force urgently, an official of a regional bloc said on Sunday.

"A deep crisis in Guinea risks not just destabilising the country in the long term but could also compromise all our post-conflict peace efforts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast," Mohamed Ibn Chambas, president of the ECOWAS commission which coordinates the regional bloc's activities, said.

He spoke in Burkina Faso where Guinea's military junta and civilian opposition are holding talks with mediators, a week after the top bauxite exporter's leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, was shot in a botched assassination attempt by his own soldiers.

Camara was evacuated to Morocco, where he is recovering from surgery on gunshot wounds to his head. His deputy has taken charge of the country but the rogue soldiers are still being tracked and there are fears of ethnic violence.

"Because of the threat ... I propose that we suggest to our superiors the preventative deployment of a humanitarian and civilian protection force that will help restore a climate of security for Guineans," Chambas said at the talk's opening.

Chambas warned that "all the ingredients were in place for an explosive situation".

The region's conflicts have long been intertwined and four of Guinea's neighbours, which endured war or politically-linked violence over the last decade, remain fragile as they seek to consolidate their own peace process.

The junta seized power in a coup last December and initially won over some of the population with promises of reforms. But divisions within the country, and the military, have deepened as Camara back-tracked on vows to hold polls and restore democracy.