Captain Moussa Dadis Camara (born 1964) is an officer of the Guinean army who is currently serving as the President
of the Republic of Guinea's National Council for Democracy and Development (Conseil National de la Démocratie et du
Développement, CNDD), which seized power in a military coup d'etat on 23 December 2008 following the death of long-time
President Lansana Conté. As head of the CNDD, which Camara described as a transitional body that will oversee the
country's return to democracy, Camara is the head of state of Guinea. Camara was born in 1964 in Koure, Lola Prefecture
in the far southeast of Guinea, near the border with Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia. He went to school 40km away in
the regional capital, Nzérékoré. After studying law and economics at the Abdel Nasser University in Conakry, he
went on to the University of Conakry, where he obtained a Masters in Economics. He is a Christian and speaks
five languages: French, German, Kpelle, Susu and Maninka.
He joined the Army of Guinea in 1990 as a corporal and in 2004 went to Germany for 18 months military training.
He was one of the leading mutineers in the 2008 Guinean military unrest. In November 2008, he was named head
of the army's fuel supplies unit and a member of the Minister of Defense's cabinet. Prior to the December
2008 coup, he was little known by the general population.
