Guinea's military junta has vowed to fight and repel any "preventive deployment" of troops in the country as the international community has recommended.

"We will consider such deployment as a declaration of war against the Guinean people and we are prepared to fight back and beat such an aggression," a senior junta officer told reporters in Conakry yesterday.

Colonel Moussa Keita, the Permanent Secretary of the ruling National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) in an interview with the foreign press said the military regime "remains categorically opposed" to the idea of floating a "preventive deployment" of international troops in Guinea. "That will be completely against the international law and will therefore be an offense against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Guinea, which is unacceptable and hence we will fight back," Col Keita said.

"Let them go ahead and plan whatever force they want, but they should be reminded that it is impossible for such a force to gain a foothold in Guinea without our (junta) permission and which we do not envisage at this point in time."

During a marathon meeting throughout Sunday night in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on the Guinean situation, the International Contact Group on Guinea (ICGG) decided to begin working out modalities for the setting up the force in a bid to forestall the " rapid deterioration in the security, humanitarian and human rights situation in Guinea."

The ICGG is composed of the United Nations, African Union, Ecowas, the United States, the European Union (EU), the International Organization of la Francophonie (OIF), Great Britain and France.