Guinean security forces have uncovered a suspected armed plot to destabilise the West African country.

"Certain elements are meeting illicitly to profit from public demonstrations by provoking disorder," Prime Minister Jean-Marie Dore said on national television.

"Those involved dressed in military or police uniform attempt to deflect suspicion onto the authorities", he said. "I say to the militants that they have already been identified. We know who they are."

Army chief Colonel Nouhou Thiam said arrests had been made.

The country is in the process of replacing a military-led government with what would be its first freely elected administration. The first round of voting last month produced no clear winner, and a second round is expected within weeks.

A military junta took power in Guinea in December 2008 after President Lansana Conte died, but in early 2010 the head of the armed forces appointed a transitional government to organise elections, a process backed by the United States, France, the United Nations and European Union among others.

source: Reuters