Hundreds of mutinous soldiers demanding pay for peacekeeping duty abroad seized key buildings in the capital of Guinea-Bissau on Wednesday and patrolled the potholed streets in trucks with mounted machineguns. Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior appealed for calm in the West African country, which has a history of instability, and sent a delegation including the United Nations special representative to negotiate with the leaders of the mutiny. The unit involved had spent nine months in Liberia and had not been paid for five of those, officials said. "The people of Guinea-Bissau should know how to favour dialogue and leave aside radicalism which makes no sense," Gomes told a news conference. "The results of the negotiations will let us know how to find a resolution to this crisis." Soldiers with automatic rifles deployed at main junctions and the airport in Bissau city while others rode around in all-terrain vehicles holding rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The troops later withdrew from outdoor positions but continued to occupy the army headquarters, the Ministry of Defence building and a city-centre barracks, officials said. --More 2233 Local Time 1933 GMT
