EU to impose arms embargo on Guinea: diplomats

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will impose an arms embargo on Guinea following the killing of protesters in anti-government protests, EU diplomats said on Wednesday.

They said EU member states had also agreed to restrict the travel and freeze the assets of individuals involved in the crackdown in a stadium on September 28, in which a local rights group said more than 150 people were killed.

The decision is expected to be adopted by EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday and Tuesday. It will increase international pressure on Guinea's military leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, to step down.

"The member states agreed today to impose an arms embargo and sanctions on Guinea," one EU diplomat said.

He said the measures would not take effect immediately but would go into force once all the EU procedures had been completed.

"Formal adoption takes time. They are working on a list of individuals that will be subject to sanctions," the diplomat 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, the world's biggest exporter of bauxite, the raw ore used to make aluminium.

The West Africa regional bloc ECOWAS imposed an arms embargo against Guinea on Saturday 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.