Troops in Guinea have seized the deputy head of the army in a protest over pay. The soldiers captured Gen Mamadou Sampil when he tried to negotiate with them at an army base in the capital, Conakry. The troops, who say they have been owed money for up to 12 years and protested over the same issue last year, also fired shots into the air. The protests come the week after President Lansana Conte sacked Lansana Kouyate as prime minister. Gen Sampil was seized at Conakry's Alpha Yaya Diallo base on Monday. The BBC's Alhassan Sillah in Guinea says that shots were also heard in two other garrisons in Kindia, north-east of Conakry, and N'Zerkore in the south east. Call for dialogue Following the unrest President Conte summoned senior government officials including new Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare for a meeting that lasted more than four hours. The government then issued a statement calling for dialogue and offering to release soldiers arrested after protests last year in return for calm, our correspondent says. But it also said it had paid all the money owed to the soldiers. The dismissed prime minister was appointed as part of a deal in 2007 to end deadly riots that paralysed the country. He was replaced by Mr Souare, a former minister of mines and ally of Mr Conte. The dismissal of Mr Kouyate was reportedly one of the soldiers' complaints, as they said they had no-one left to petition. The sacking sparked protests in Conakry last week. Mr Conte has ruled Guinea since taking power in a bloodless coup in 1984. Source: BBC