The bodies of people killed during a rally are seen at the capital's main mosque in Conakry, Guinea (File)A senior State Department official said Friday the Obama administrationis considering financial sanctions against Guinea's military rulers totry to prompt junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara to step aside and allowfree elections. International pressure on Guinea's military governmenthas been building since security forces killed more than 150 oppositionprotesters in late September.

The Obama administration imposed U.S. travelrestrictions on members of Guinea's military leadership and keysupporters earlier this week. And a senior State Department officialsays the United States may follow the African Union in imposingtargeted financial sanctions against key officials in Conakry in aneffort to help move the troubled African state toward free elections.

Thecomments came from Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for AfricanAffairs William Fitzgerald, who has played a lead role in U.S.diplomacy on Guinea since the military attack on protesters in ConakrySeptember 28th that drew international condemnation.

Fitzgeraldwas sent to the Guinean capital days after what he described as the"massacre" of opposition demonstrators to express U.S. outrage over thekillings and reported sexual assaults by troops, and to demand thatCaptain Camara adhere to a pledge made early this year to step down infavor of an elected government.

Guinea's military leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara (file photo)
The opposition crowd had turnedout at the rally at Conakry's main stadium to protest suggestions byCaptain Camara that he would run for president in elections planned forJanuary.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Fitzgerald, in a Washingtonpress briefing, said he believes the attack was an effort by thegovernment to intimidate the opposition even though Captain Camara toldhim in Conakry he did not order the bloody crackdown.

"I toldhim quite frankly, I said Mr. President, that doesn't work. You are thehead of the junta. You call yourself the commander in chief of thearmed forces and yet you did nothing to stop it. You were unable tostop it. The responsibility rests with you. The buck stops with you,Mr. President, whether like it or not. You have explaining to do to theinternational community," he said.

Fitzgerald said the UnitedStates imposed the travel curbs, and is considering the financialsanctions, to show that impunity in unacceptable in Guinea andelsewhere.

He said the United States is working with others insupport of the early convening of a U.N. commission of inquiry on theSeptember 28 attack, and backing African mediation led by BurkinaFaso President Blasé Compaore aimed at moving Guinea to civilian rulethrough elections.

He said it if Captain Camara stood forelection in January, it would be difficult to see how such a vote couldbe credible or bring normalization of ties between Guinea, itsneighbors, and the international community.

"We believe, theU.S. government believes, that the Guineans now have the right, andreally merit the opportunity, to have a democratic election," saidFitzgerald. "The 50 years of authoritarian rule has been debilitatingto the country."

"Money that went to the armed forces that could havebeen or should have been spent on health and education, socialservices, was basically squandered. In any case the time is right nowfor democracy, for the people of of Guinea to get the elections theywere hoping for," he added.

Under questioning, Fitzgerald expressedconcern about continued Chinese investment in Guinea following theSeptember 28 violence, saying the fact Beijing supports the militarygovernment and accepts it as legitimate is "very difficult." At thesame time, he noted that China did not block the U.N. SecurityCouncil's condemnation of the killing of opposition protesters or themove to set up an inquiry commission.