Photo: Nancy Palus/IRIN

A poster of junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara in the Guinean capital Conakry

Scores of people in the Guinean capital Conakry were killed and injured on 28 September when security forces cracked down on demonstrators protesting the presidential candidature of junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara.

“I saw soldiers shooting at and stabbing demonstrators,” said a woman who gave her name only as Fanta. Another marcher who requested anonymity told IRIN soldiers ripped clothes off of women demonstrators and beat people with clubs.

“They shouted insults at people as they beat them, calling them ‘enemies’,” he said.

Demonstrators told IRIN they saw dead bodies but could not say how many people were killed. Media reports say local doctors put the number at 58.

At least five women sought treatment for rape at local health centres, according to Médecins Sans Frontiéres.

One hundred first aid workers with the Guinea Red Cross were deployed in Conakry to assist the injured and bring them to hospital, a Red Cross worker told IRIN.

By afternoon of 28 September “hundreds” of people with bullet wounds and injuries from beatings were at Donka Hospital in Conakry, according to a doctor at the hospital who requested anonymity.

“They are lying everywhere. I could not even count how many injured we have here. At least in the hundreds.” The injured are a mix of men and women, the youngest about age 14, he told IRIN.

Political and civil society leaders on 19 September called for a rally in a Conakry stadium to protest Camara’s candidature in upcoming presidential elections. Camara came to power in a coup on 23 December saying he would organize elections but has since signaled he has not ruled out running. On 22 September Camara supporters demonstrated in Conakry.

Despite a ban by authorities on the 28 September stadium meeting, masses of people assembled in the morning, pushing past military and entering the arena.

Demonstrator Fanta said at one point soldiers drove into the stadium, descended from their vehicles and began to shoot at and beat up demonstrators.

Mamadi Kaba, president of the Guinean office of the pan-African human rights group RADDHO, called the events “completely beyond all acceptable limits” and said it is time for the international community to stop tolerating Guinea’s military regime.

“A few days back a group of Guineans demonstrated their support for [junta leader Camara],” Kaba said. “They were tolerated and even encouraged. Today another part of the population comes out peacefully to express an opposing view and they are violently repressed.”

He said: “Today the junta has shown what it wants and what it is ready to do to the citizens. African leaders and the international community must join together to help the Guinean people get rid of this junta.”

Marchers told IRIN if civil society and political leaders were to call for another demonstration they would resume immediately.

“We are fighting for freedom here,” said one protester. “We are fighting to block the way for not only Moussa Dadis Camara but any military person trying to become president of Guinea.”

Fanta said: “Even if they tell us to take to the streets again this evening, I will be out there. This is for the children of Guinea.”

(IRIN) – Guinea was in a state of suspension the afternoon of 23 December as both the standing government and a group of soldiers claimed power following the death of 24-year president Lansana Conté.

Former coup leader Conté’s death, following years of illness, comes at a time of socioeconomic and political crisis in Guinea – borne of longstanding strife inside the country, exacerbated by the global financial downturn. Observers say the question now is whether in post-Conté Guinea the population’s grievances will be addressed.

Photo: Nancy Palus/IRIN

Mamadou Dian Diallo’s brother was shot dead when soldiers cracked down on demonstrations against the government of President Lansana Conté in 2007 (file photo

Despite that a group of soldiers running several communiqués on state media saying they had dissolved government, Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souaré insisted that the government was still intact.

“Nothing is yet lost,” Souaré told Radio France International, adding he hoped the situation would return to normal. “A coup d’état now would turn our country back 30 to 40 years.”

Elizabeth Cote, head of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in Guinea, said after the conflicting declarations throughout the day observers were expecting negotations would take place.

“Basically there is a lot of confusion. I don’t think anyone knows where this is going yet,” she told IRIN. “It seemed like a more constitutional approach in the middle of the night, and then we wake up to this military declaration.”

Hours after Conté’s death the evening of 22 December, the prime minister, National Assembly President Aboubacar Sompare and the army chief of staff appeared on the public airwaves saying that in conformity with the constitution the National Assembly president would assume power and organise presidential elections.

A few hours later, a military group overtook state radio and television and announced that the government and constitution were dissolved. They advised military generals and government ministers to congregate at the main military base in Conakry “for their security”.

But the army chief of staff later publicly denounced declarations a military takeover.

Presidential elections had been scheduled in Guinea in 2010. Over the past two years the country has repeatedly planned and cancelled parliamentary elections; the mandate of the current legislature was to be up last year. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82021

Capital shut down

Streets in the capital Conakry were mostly deserted throughout the day as soldiers patrolled, urging people to stay home. Markets and schools were closed. Routes into the city centre were blocked from early in the morning.

While no shooting was reported, a witness in Conakry said the soldiers claiming power were “armed to the teeth”. Guinea’s military has seen mutinies in recent years and observers say it is not clear how divided the military is.

IFES’s Cote said there was a definite “social connotation” in the soldiers’ message.

The military group – calling itself the national council for democracy and development – in one of its declarations denounced corruption and living conditions in which so few Guineans have access to water, electricity and health care.

“What these putschistes are saying is that Guinea needs a radical break from the past in order to change.” But she added: “As an institution we are never happy to see military rule when the goal is to facilitate the construction of a democracy.”

Guinean citizens were hoping for a radical break from the past when they took to the streets in early 2007 calling for Conté’s ouster. But despite promises that the people’s grievances would be heeded a consensus prime minister has since been fired and little has changed.

Guinea is rich in mineral resources – including the world’s largest bauxite reserves – but most of the population lives in dire poverty.

“The socio-economic situation is extremely grave,” Bakary Fofana, vice president of the national council of civil society organizations, told IRIN on 23 December. “Already people have a difficult time eating adequately or getting treatment when they’re sick. Schools and hospitals are not functioning.”

He added: “The government failed to meet even the minimum needs of the population. The people had lost all hope.”