Officer claims power

The leader of a coup in Guinea paraded with several thousand soldiers through Conakry, the capital, as crowds cheered, “Long live the president!” Renegade army Capt. Moussa Camara said his group would hold power until elections in two years.

Camara was virtually unknown until the death Monday of longtime dictator Lansana Conte. He stood in the first truck of a military convoy en route to the presidential palace and waved to the throng. A phalanx of soldiers hoisting Kalashnikov assault rifles accompanied the parade.

Guinea’s prime minister -- in hiding since the coup was declared -- said earlier by telephone that the government remained in control.