As a military mutiny in the west African nation of Guinea drew to a close, diplomatic and Jewish community officials in the region cautiously said that expatriates in the capital city of Conakry seemed to have escaped the unrest relatively unscathed.

“Right now, things are calming down,” said Rabbi Shlomo Bentolila, the Congo-based co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa, who maintained contact with a group of some 50 Israelis holed up in a Conakry hotel throughout the ordeal. “Some people were evacuated, but no one was hurt.”

According to Bentolila, anywhere from 50 to 60 Israelis work in Guinea at any one time for a variety of foreign companies with interests in the country. Israel does not have a diplomatic mission in Guinea, instead relying on Ambassador to Senegal Gidon Bahar to take care of matters there.

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Bahar told Israel’s Army Radio on Friday that the Israeli businesspeople were not in any danger, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“They are fine and in a fortified area,” said Bahar.

The crisis unfolded last week after Guinea President Lansana Conté dismissed Prime Minister Lansana Kouyaté, who had apparently told soldiers that the government would pay them back wages and bonuses. The soldiers revolted, but by the weekend had released the army’s second in command after holding him hostage.

According to Agence France Presse, Conté met briefly with the mutineers on Saturday.

Bentolila said that in a country like Guinea, expatriates can quickly find themselves “trapped in the middle” during civil strife.

“What we tell them to do is the stay in their rooms and wait for the problem to clear,” he said.