By Saliou Samb
CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea junta chief Captain Moussa Dadis Camara arrived in Morocco on Friday for medical treatment after being wounded in a gun attack by a former military aide, Moroccan authorities said.
Guinea's leadership played down the extent of Camara's injuries and denied his departure opened up a power vacuum in the unstable West African nation, the world's top exporter of the aluminium ore bauxite.
But Camara's evacuation raised questions about his future, with many analysts and observers believing he may not return to Guinea and that he could instead be persuaded to take exile.
"No bullet penetrated the president's body. There was just a graze on the head. He is walking normally and speaking with people," Communications Minister Idrissa Cherif told Reuters.
"Power is in the hands of the CNDD (junta) and the government," he added of the regime which Camara created after the bloodless coup in December that followed the death of strongman leader Lansana Conte.
However, a diplomat in Conakry said: "If he leaves the country, that would be it for him."
Metals analysts said prices of aluminium could be boosted if Guinea's troubles escalated, but said there was no lack of global supply and so the impact would be limited for now.
Morocco's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Camara had not consulted Morocco before his flight but that Rabat would give him medical treatment on humanitarian grounds.
"The aircraft carrying the Guinean president has just landed at Sale military base," a government official told Reuters, referring to the airstrip just outside the capital.
Moroccan sources said Camara would be treated at Rabat military hospital.
Political analysts have said any outbreak of wider unrest in Guinea threatens to destabilize neighbours Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia, still recovering from civil wars that ended earlier this decade.
ISOLATION
Morocco has been a longstanding destination for Guinea's elite to seek medical care.
In Conakry, residents said gunshots were heard across the city overnight as security forces hunted down suspects, and soldiers guarded thoroughfares and other strategic points. The capital was calm on Friday and there were conflicting reports as to whether all the suspects had been arrested.
The attack happened as U.N. investigators in Conakry wound up their inquiry into the September 28 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in which more than 150 protesters were killed and scores of women raped, according to witnesses.
A junta statement late on Thursday said Lieutenant Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakite, Camara's former aide de camp and the soldier named by witnesses as a leading figure in the September killings, had led the attack on Camara.
"What we are hearing is that they either arrested Toumba or were going to arrest him and he shot at Dadis. There is no doubt this is linked to the investigation," a diplomat said.
"This was the only way out for him (Camara)," the diplomat added of the theory that Camara would try to implicate Toumba in the September 28 killings and so remove any blame from himself.
Camara and his junta have faced almost total international isolation and sanctions such as visa bans and bank asset freezes since the pro-democracy crackdown.
(Additional reporting by David Lewis in Libreville, Diadie ba in Dakar, Michael Taylor in London; Lamine Ghanmi in Rabat; writing by Mark John and Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Giles Elgood)
