By Saliou Samb CONAKRY, March 6 (Reuters) - Guinea has more than doubled army salaries to try to quell discontent among its soldiers after weeks of unrest earlier this year in the West African country, military sources said on Tuesday. A corporal's monthly wages had risen to 328,000 Guinean francs ($55) from 110,000 francs while junior officers would now receive 441,000 Guinean francs ($74), up from a previous 188,000 francs, the sources said. "There were soldiers who were dissatisfied, but today everyone has received their salaries," a senior army officer who asked not to be identified told Reuters. Guinea's security forces enforced 12 days of martial law in February to quash violent protests accompanying a general strike against President Lansana Conte's near quarter century rule. The state of emergency was lifted after a deal late last month to name a consensus prime minister. Some soldiers had threatened to demonstrate if their wages were not increased, military sources said. "We were in our barracks on Friday but we refused to accept our pay because it was too small," one junior officer said, adding the military top brass had quickly agreed to the raise. Conte, a reclusive diabetic in his 70s, has relied on the armed forces to bolster his autocratic rule since seizing power in a 1984 coup, occasionally leaving him at their mercy. Soldiers used heavy weaponry to bombard the presidential palace during a 1996 mutiny to demand higher wages. Diplomats question how long the army, riven by generational and ethnic divisions, will remain loyal in the face of increasingly vocal opposition to Conte. The former French colony's Health Ministry says 129 people were killed and 1,379 injured in January and February during the military crackdown, which drew international criticism. The unions -- who have led nearly seven weeks of on-off stoppages this year -- said Conte was no longer fit to rule and demanded he name a new prime minister to take charge of the daily running of government. Conte named respected diplomat Lansana Kouyate to the post late last month as part of the deal to end the strikes, which punished an economy already struggling with high inflation, rampant corruption and a tumbling currency. The increased funding for defence, which already constitutes the lion's share of government spending in the world's top bauxite exporter, is likely to put pressure on other sectors such as education and infrastructure.
