EU agrees sanctions on Guinea over crackdown

The decision steps up pressure on Guinea's military junta over a crackdown in which a local rights group said more than 150 people were killed on September 28.

The West Africa regional group ECOWAS has already imposed an arms embargo on Guinea, the world's biggest exporter of bauxite, the raw ore used to make aluminium.

EU foreign ministers agreed on the sanctions at a meeting in Luxembourg. They will target the military junta, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara and his ruling Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD).

"The Council (of foreign ministers) has decided to adopt measures targeting the members of the CNDD and individual associated with them, responsible for the violent crackdown or the political stalemate," an EU statement said.

The United States and the 27-country EU have called on Camara to resign and the International Criminal Court is investigating the killings in Guinea.

ECOWAS imposed its arms embargo on Guinea this month and said the crackdown, in which thousands of people were also wounded, posed a "real threat to the peace, security and stability of the region."

Camara came to power in a bloodless coup last December following the death of veteran President Lansana Conte.