AFP/File – Jordan's King Abdullah II, seen here in November 2008, on Thursday ordered the setting up of a health …

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The African Union suspended Guinea on Monday after a coup in the West African nation.

The suspension will stand "until the return of constitutional order in that country," the African bloc said after a meeting of its Peace and Security Council in the Ethiopian capital, where it is based.

The military coup followed the Dec. 22 death of Guinea's longtime dictator Lansana Conte after more than two decades in power. The coup leader, renegade army Capt. Moussa Camara, said his group would hold power until elections in two years.

Until Conte's death, Guinea had been ruled by only two people since its 1958 independence from France.

Conte first took power in a 1984 military coup after his predecessor's death, embarking on more than two decades of stern-handed, dictatorial rule.


Credits: BBC, AFP/File – This week's coup in Guinea should serve as a warning as to what may happen in Zimbabwe if veteran