"We urge all the stakeholders in the Guinea crisis to rapidly form a National Unity Government capable of leading the country towards the restoration of constitutional order through the holding of free and transparent elections within the next six months," the AU's International Contact Group on Guinea said, Reuters reported.

Last week Guinea's junta named Jean-Marie Dore as prime minister of a transitional government charged with restoring civilian rule. A source close to the junta said Dore, leader of the Union for the Progress of Guinea party, would steer the country through to elections.

The AU imposed sanctions on the leaders of the junta in October.

Camara is still convalescing outside the country after he was wounded on December 3 during an assassination attempt.

Guinean opposition parties have demanded elections since Camara's coup sparked a political crisis which some feared could destabilise a fragile region.

That crisis intensified when security forces killed over 150 people at a pro-democracy march in September, a massacre for which the United Nations said Camara was responsible.

Internal dissent has grown in Guinea, the world's top supplier of bauxite, since that incident.