Morgue, Conakry, Guinea After September 28 Attack by Junta Forces
Since many people may not have time to read the full 108 page report, “Bloody Monday” prepared by Human Rights Watch regarding the September 28 attack, Guinea Oye! has selected certain excerpts to include in this post . The evidence provided by eyewitnesses shows that the brutality demonstrated by junta forces in the stadium that day knew no bounds. To go to the full report, double-click on the link above.
The sections excerpted are: 1) Attack on Rally Participants by Security Forces Inside the Stadium, 2) Pursuit of Rally Participants by Security Forces Outside the Stadium, 3) Rape and Other Sexual Assault by Security Forces (including murder of women sexually assaulted, extreme brutality during sexual assaults, and rape with foreign objects).
Attack on Rally Participants by Security Forces inside the Stadium
At around 11:30, about 30 minutes after the political leaders entered the stadium, several hundred members of the security forces arrived, mostly aboard vehicles. According to scores of witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch, the security forces who perpetrated the violations described in this report consisted of:
- Presidential Guard soldiers dressed in full camouflage uniform and wearing red berets. They were commanded by Lieutenant Abubakar “Toumba” Diakité, then Dadis Camara’s personal aide de camp and chief bodyguard, and Second-Lieutenant Marcel Kuvugi.
- Gendarmes wearing green berets and one of two uniforms: those wearing black T-shirts and camouflage pants formed part of the Anti-Drug and Anti-Organized Crime Unit under the command of gendarme Captain Moussa Tiégboro Camara; those wearing full camouflage uniforms appeared to be part of a second unit of gendarmes.
- Anti-riot police with the Mobile Intervention and Security Force (Compagnie mobile d’intervention et de sécurité, CMIS) wearing black pants and shirts. Many were equipped with riot gear, such as shields and helmets.
- Civilian-dressed militia armed with knives, sticks, and pangas (machetes), many of whom were wearing traditional amulets and fetishes. The majority were believed by witnesses to be from ethnic groups living in the southeastern forest region of Guinea.[43]
The vast majority of the killings and sexual assaults documented by Human Rights Watch were committed by members of the Presidential Guard, or “red berets” as they are more commonly known.
After the security forces reached the stadium, they quickly encircled it, mostly on foot. Anti-riot police then fired tear gas into the stadium from their vehicles, causing widespread panic. Minutes later, Presidential Guard soldiers, and a smaller number of other forces, stormed through the principal entrance, firing directly as they advanced forward into the packed and terrified crowd. Numerous witnesses described the gunmen “spraying the crowd from left to right, left to right.” Many witnesses described the soldiers shooting at people as they tried to climb up over the fences and walls. A retired professor in her sixties, recalled:
All of a sudden, I heard these loud noises—boom, boom—it sounded like a war. That was the firing of the tear gas from outside the stadium. Then, within minutes, the red berets entered. They were everywhere. The youth were on the field. When the soldiers entered, they opened fire right away on that crowd. Everyone went into panic, people were running everywhere—I saw people jump from the top of the covered stands. There was screaming everywhere, screaming so loud, and the crowd started to stampede.[44]
A 65-year-old man described what he saw:
I clearly saw them spraying back and forth, back and forth, and people falling in their path. They fired as they moved down the field. I fell down on top of others who had been shot … my boubou [clothing] was drenched with the blood of young men. These people are trained to defend us from harm. Instead they turned their guns on us. It was a meeting, not a war. We wanted to talk—we wanted them to listen to us, not shoot and kill us.[45]
A 32-year-old trader told Human Rights Watch that he heard the soldiers yelling, “We’ve come to clean!” as they opened fire into the crowds.[46] A medical student described the different security forces that he saw perpetrating the violence:
I was sure they wouldn’t kill like they did in January 2007,[47] but I was wrong. As soon as the gas was fired I knew there would be trouble so I immediately tried to run out one of the side gates, but when I reached the main gate, I saw the military deploying around the side of the stadium. I immediately ran back to the stadium and moments later saw them flooding in—they were mostly red berets dressed in camouflage, then the gendarmes from Anti-Drug in camouflage pants with black T-shirts, a few from Anti-Gang in all black, and a few regular green beret gendarmes. I saw them firing directly into the people gathered in the stadium, stands, and even at the youth trying to get over the gates and walls to escape.[48]
Many witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch described how the attackers continued to shoot at those gathered both on the field and in the stands until they had emptied the two clips of ammunition many of them carried.[49]
A 22-year-old student, described to Human Rights Watch how he watched the shootings start and was then beaten to the ground as he tried to escape:
The first who entered the stadium were the red berets, followed by Tiégboro’s gendarmes and the anti-riot police. They came into the stadium from the main gate and the smaller gates, and immediately began shooting directly at the people. The first victim I personally saw was a young boy, maybe 13 or 14, who was shot down on the field. I was coming down the stands then. There were so many people shot then. I ran down to the field, and then I was hit by a red beret with a wooden stick in my knees. I fell down to the ground, and then four came—a red beret and three dressed in all black uniforms with police berets. They beat me with wooden sticks for five minutes. One of them said, “If you think Guinea belongs to the Peuhl and the Malinké, today you will learn who the real bastards and the mad dogs are.” I couldn’t get up anymore, so I just stayed on the ground. There was a girl next to me, she was nearly naked, only in her underwear, she was crying and bleeding, so I gave her my T-shirt. Then I lost consciousness and woke up at Donka Hospital.[50]
Witnesses recounted how at the far end of the covered stands, as the panicked crowds pushed open another major gate, members of the Presidential Guard stood at the entrance and attacked the crowd as they tried to flee. Many died there from being shot or as a result of being trampled to death. Several witnesses who observed bodies near the stadium exits told Human Rights Watch that many did not appear to have gunshot or knife injuries, indicating that a number of those killed were trampled to death. A shopkeeper in her fifties told Human Rights Watch how she faced gunfire and beatings to escape through an open door, and described walking over the bodies of those who had been trapped:
The crowd kept pushing toward that one available exit. The red berets were hitting people over and over as they exited. I ducked down to avoid being hit, and at about that time there were gunshots and someone right next to me was hit and fell down. I don’t know what happened to that person, the crowd just kept moving. After all that pushing, I finally got out of the door. I was knocked down, and there were bodies all on the ground. I was crawling on dead bodies. I was scared they would shoot me if I lifted my head, so I kept my head down, looking right at the dead bodies.[51]
A 51-year-old businesswoman who survived being trampled as she tried to escape, and then witnessed the killing of an adolescent boy as she hid beneath a number of bodies, pretending she was dead, described her ordeal:
I tried to run out one door which had been forced open by the panicked people. But I fell down and was trampled … I was almost unconscious. People were on top of me. There was shooting all around. When I came to, people were running out and I was lying on the bodies of the dead. I heard a voice saying, “Oh she opened her eyes … she’s not dead.” He tried to pull me up but I was too heavy. More shots rang out and he fled. I remained there, now pretending I was dead. As I lay there, I saw a 13- or 14-year-old boy near the door looking for where to escape. A red beret approached him with his gun facing him and I heard the boy yell, “Uncle, uncle … you’re going to kill me…. Uncle, no, you’re not going to kill me are you?” But he did … the red beret shot the boy. This was right next to me…. Oh God, when I see that boy I see my own children.”[52]
A 29-year-old hairdresser told Human Rights Watch how she was repeatedly beaten and trampled as she tried to escape from the stadium through the main entrance, and ultimately suffered severe burns when she fell on top of a tear gas canister and lost consciousness:
We ran down the stands toward the fence separating the field from the stands. There were lots of people pushing up against the fence and I was crushed down by the crowd, and then had two people fall down dead on top of me from being shot. I made my way to one of the gates in the fence and a soldier started beating me, but I pushed my way through and was on the grass. Another soldier kicked me to the ground. I got back up and made my way to the big gate. Another soldier yelled at me to stop and hit me with his belt. I fell down, and then others fell on top of me—they were firing tear gas and bullets at us, and I fell down on top of a tear gas canister and was now under people’s feet. I stayed on the ground. When things calmed down a bit, a soldier walked over to see if I was dead. He put his boot on my arm to see if I would move, but I stayed still, acting dead. After a while, I lifted my head and asked someone to help me. I was under 10 dead people, piled on top of me. They moved the bodies to get me out, and I saw I was burned all over my body and arms, my belly and my legs. They took me from the pile of bodies and out of the stadium.[53]
Many of the victims and witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch had managed to hide within toilets, locker rooms, and maintenance rooms during the worst of the stadium violence. When they emerged, sometimes hours later, they described seeing many bodies, some of which had been lined up on the field or close to the stadium entrance. A 39-year-old businesswoman who had hidden within a locker room described what she saw after daring to come out:
When I saw the rapes on the field, I was scared, so I ran back up the stairs and then jumped off to get away from the red berets chasing me. I injured my foot in the fall. A young man grabbed me and led me to the locker room, where there were 30 other people. We closed the door because the red berets were coming. The others begged to come in but we couldn’t—if we had, we all would have died. We shut the door. Minutes later, they opened fire … the people kept begging to be let in. They killed everyone who was outside. Later, when it was safe to come out, we saw so many bodies there.[54]
A schoolteacher in her fifties, who had been hiding inside another locker room or room in the stadium, described the aftermath of the bloody encounter in the then near-abandoned stadium:
When I left the locker room, I went out to complete desolation—there was blood everywhere, lost shoes, glasses, clothes, all scattered around the field. It hit me. I was devastated when I saw a boy’s shirt covered with blood. I bent down and picked up a handful of dirt from the stadium and put it in my bag. I did this twice, because I wanted to take something with me from this day. I continued walking and the first dead body I saw was of a very large woman who had fallen over on her stomach. The military, or perhaps civilians that they had forced, had not been able to move this body into the line with the other bodies. I continued walking and saw a long line of bodies. I said to myself, I must count them, and so I did. I counted 40 on this line, inside the stadium field—I counted them all. They had been laid there, one next to the other in a line. There were others scattered around the stadium still waiting to be moved, and more still outside the field, but there were 40 in that line, I am sure.[55]
Pursuit of Rally Participants by Security Forces outside the Stadium
The killings and other abuses were not limited to the inside of the September 28 Stadium. Human Rights Watch documented numerous killings, beatings, and rapes that were carried out outside the main stadium.
The main stadium is located inside a large sports complex surrounded by high walls; it has a small number of exits with metal gates. Inside the sports complex, there are toilets and showers near the main entrance, a series of basketball and volleyball courts just below the covered stands of the stadium, and a second, smaller “annex” stadium a short distance away, with a high wall separating the sports complex from the neighboring grounds of the Gamal Abdel Nasser University. At the time of the attack, some construction was taking place between the main stadium and the annex stadium, which had left several deep holes in the ground. On the opposite side of the main stadium, another high wall separates the sports complex from the grounds of the private Marocana Club and the grounds of Pharma-Guinée, a pharmaceutical-importing state enterprise.
As panicked opposition supporters escaped from the main stadium, they found the entire sports complex occupied by the security forces and men in civilian dress armed with sticks and knives. Most of the escape routes out of the complex were blocked, and many people were shot or knifed down as they attempted to flee. A 24-year-old graduate student described how he barely escaped getting knifed as he attempted to flee the stadium:
There were three small doors on one side of the stadium that people were trying to escape through. As I was looking for where to escape, I saw a few soldiers come in through the small doors and start firing at people from there. Then I saw some armed men in civilian clothes start attacking people with knifes—it was like the military and these guys were working together. When people tried to push themselves through the doors, the civilians and military [about 10 in total] would knife them as they tried to slip by. I saw about five people wounded like this, including a guy I was trying to flee with. As we pushed by, the civilian-dressed guy stuck him in the shoulder. He fell down, and I continued. I heard them talking in bad French as they were doing this … “Who told you to come here? We’re going to kill you.”[56]
Many people tried to flee by climbing to the top of the stadium’s covered stands and then jumping down the estimated 10-15 meters to escape. According to witnesses, many people died from injuries sustained by the fall, or from others landing on top of them. Still others were gunned down after surviving the jump. A 41-year-old merchant told Human Rights Watch how he had been forced to jump, injuring his leg in the process, and how he saw 38 bodies at the exterior of the stadium, near the bottom of the covered stands:
The military closed off all the exits. I ran up the covered stands. When I got to the top, I looked back and saw them firing on the field and also now firing coming up the covered stands. I had no choice but to jump—it must have been 30 meters down [sic, an estimated 10-15 meters]. There were lots of people jumping, someone landed close to me and I heard their ankle just snap. When I hit the ground, I lost my breath and couldn’t move. There were soldiers not far from me, and they were firing [at us]. One of the bullets went through my pant leg. I could feel it, but it didn’t enter my skin. There were so many people around, and I was breathing with great difficulty because of the fall.
A red beret came up to me and gave me a kick to the head. He took my money, my cell phone, everything. He then took a knife and put it to my head, but he didn’t cut me, then he left. I lied there, unable to move, and I counted up the dead bodies around me. There were 38. The soldiers kept going through the cadavers and taking stuff. I was lying with dead bodies … 38 cadavers just at around the place where I jumped off the covered stands. I counted them while I lay there.[57]
Another witness, a 23-year-old hairdresser, saw one of her friends shot dead right next to her as they tried to escape from the area behind the covered stands, and then hid, only to see many more people shot dead in the same area:
As we were running behind the covered stands, outside the stadium, me and two friends, one of my friends was shot in the chest. She fell down and cried out, “Help me!” but there was nothing we could do. I didn’t see who shot her—I think they were behind us. It was just chaos, there were so many people running…. I saw the clinic for the football players, right underneath the covered stands, and we hid there for a short period of time. People were running all around, and I saw so many shot there, I couldn’t even count.[58]
Similar violence took place at the entrance to the stadium grounds, known as the esplanade, a walkway area between the main entrance gate into the sports complex grounds and the main entrance to the stadium. The 23-year-old hairdresser who gave the above account told Human Rights Watch how she saw another friend shot dead as they ran for the main entrance, and how she herself was attacked and stabbed by Presidential Guard soldiers:
Finally, my friend and I ran toward the main entrance, the one that heads out to the road in front of the stadium. As we were running with a number of other people, my friend was shot. The gunshot went through his neck, and he fell to the ground; the blood just flowed through his shirt, and he lay there, dead. I kept running, and as I got close to the main entrance, a red beret knocked me down to the ground and then jumped on me, up and down on my stomach. I could not speak, the pain was so much, and he just kept on jumping. Then another red beret came and stabbed me in the arm with a knife and hit me in the face. They just kept beating me.[59]
Around the basketball and volleyball courts and the small annex stadium, a large crowd of opposition supporters became trapped against the high walls separating the sports complex grounds from the neighboring university grounds. A group of red berets and gendarmes pursued them, firing at the trapped people as they tried to scramble over the walls. A 32-year-old shopkeeper described to Human Rights Watch how five of the group of eight people with whom he was fleeing were shot there, and how others were bayoneted to death as they tried to climb the perimeter walls:
I decided to try and run out of the stadium. At the far gate, one of the doors was open but there were so many people trying to flee, I decided to climb over the closed door…. I ran toward the perimeter wall. Near the basketball court, a group of red berets and gendarmes from Tiégboro’s unit were chasing us. They fired on a group of eight of us, and only three of us were able to get away alive. Five of us were killed, shot down near the wall facing the university. We couldn’t get out there, so we ran back to the broken wall near Donka Road. A group of red berets was there waiting for us, two trucks of them. They were armed with bayonets. I saw one red beret kill three people right in front of us [with a bayonet], so I wanted to run back. But my friend said, “There are lots of us, let’s try and push through,” and that is how we escaped.[60]
A 47-year-old factory owner told Human Rights Watch how he quickly made his way out of the main stadium, only to find himself trapped in the area of the annex stadium, where he saw the killings by members of the Presidential Guard continue:
Toumba [Lieutenant Abubakar “Toumba” Diakité] pointed his rifle in our direction and fired at us, and it was then that I realized they had come to kill…. Outside the main stadium, the red berets were chasing us. We ran toward the small annex stadium. There were people being shot down everywhere, there was blood everywhere on the ground. Near the annex stadium, there were some construction holes in the ground, and I jumped over them. But there was a wall blocking our way near the university, so we were stuck. People were being crushed to death there as they tried to climb up and run away over the roofs of the houses. I finally managed to climb the big wall and was helped over the wall, but I looked back to see the gendarmes still beating people.[61]
Another witness, a 27-year-old shopkeeper, told Human Rights Watch that he had seen many dead in the same area:
There were lots of bodies at the small annex stadium, and they continued to shoot people there. There were also shot-down electrical wires on the ground, electrocuting people.[62]
One witness, a 30-year-old market woman, described being duped by a few Presidential Guard soldiers who indicated to a large group of people that they would be provided safe passage, only to open fire when they drew nearer:
As I ran toward the main entrance, I saw the red berets firing on the high voltage wires. It fell and we were no longer able to go out this way, so we exited out near the stadium annex. I was running with a group of about 25 to 30. When we got to the annex, the red berets circled us and started beating us with pieces of wood—some of them had nails in them. I got away and ran, but about 50 meters away, another one kicked my feet out from under me. I got up again and ran towards the volleyball court. When I got there, I joined up with a big group of us—about 200—all looking for the best place to escape. Some meters away there was a group of red berets who started telling us to run toward them…. They shouted, “Come, come … here, here,” motioning at a small door near the volleyball courts that leads to the university. When we got about 10 meters away, they took position and opened fire on us. Those in front of me started falling down wounded and dead. They fired and fired at us.[63]
A 19-year-old student who was beaten by security forces and hid in an area under construction behind the stadium recounted to Human Rights Watch:
As I sat there, no more than three meters away, I saw them shoot an old man dressed as an imam in the head while he was praying. The old man was in the process of praying, because in the Muslim faith, if you are going to die, it is necessary to pray before dying. He was in the process of praying and a red beret walked up to him and shot him in the head with a pistol. Nearby, there was another man who wanted to pray. As he kneeled there, one of the ones wearing gris-gris [amulets] said, “Don’t say another prayer,” and came up behind him and slit his throat.[64]
Rape and Other Sexual Assault by Security Forces
Dozens of Guinean girls and women who participated in the September 28 rally at the stadium were subjected to sexual violence of particular brutality, including individual and gang rape and sexual assault with hands and objects such as sticks, batons, shoes, rifle butts, and bayonets. In the wake of the violence at the stadium, many women were held in private residences and gang raped for up to five days. At least four women and girls were murdered during or immediately after being raped. The vast majority of the sexual crimes documented by Human Rights Watch were carried out by members of the Presidential Guard, and, fewer in number, by gendarmes, policemen, and civilian militiamen.
It is difficult to determine the precise number of victims of sexual violence from the September 28 massacre and related events. As of mid-October, 63 victims of sexual violence had been identified by a coalition of health and human rights groups.[93] However, given the profound stigma attached to victims of sexual violence within Guinea’s very conservative, mostly Muslim society, it is widely believed that many victims have not yet been identified by local community-based organizations tasked with facilitating medical and psychological care for them.
Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed 28 victims of sexual violence and documented many more cases from witnesses to the assaults. Of the 28 victims interviewed, 18 had been raped by more than one perpetrator. The victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch ranged in age from 17 to 57 and included women of all socioeconomic classes and occupations: small traders, teachers, civil servants, students, accountants, historians, housecleaners, businesswomen, and journalists, among others.
Of the victims interviewed, 20 were from the Peuhl ethnic group; five from the Malinké ethnic group, two from the Sousou ethnic group, and one Wolof. The majority of victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch believed that they were targeted at random, and that the greater number of Peuhl victims of sexual abuse resulted from the disproportionate presence of individuals from this ethnic group at the opposition rally. However, many Peuhl victims said that their perpetrators made ethnically biased threatening comments during the attacks.
The sexual assaults, the vast majority of which were committed in full view of other security service personnel and rally participants, began minutes after the security forces stormed the stadium gates on the morning of September 28. Victims and witnesses described how groups of Presidential Guard soldiers cornered or chased down the panicked victims who were fleeing the gunfire. Women trying to mount walls or scale over fences to escape were pulled down or forced to descend under threat of being shot. Those found under stadium chairs or tables were violently pulled out from hiding. After overpowering their victims, the perpetrators then ripped or cut off their clothes with a knife, often cutting their victims in the process. After pinning their victim to the ground or across the stadium seats, the perpetrators then took turns raping her in quick succession. Numerous witnesses described groups of up to 10 victims being raped simultaneously in close proximity to each other by individual or groups of perpetrators.
The rapes took place inside the stadium and in several areas around the stadium grounds, including the nearby bathroom and shower area, the basketball courts, and the annex stadium. In addition to the rapes committed at the stadium, five victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch described being taken by the Presidential Guard from the stadium and from a medical clinic where they had sought treatment to at least two private residences, where they endured days and nights of gang rape and other forms of physical and psychological abuse.
The sexual violence was most often accompanied by degrading insults and death threats made all the more terrifying by the indiscriminate killing of demonstrators going on around them. Many victims described the sheer terror that they experienced as the perpetrators argued over whether or not to kill them, or pledged to kill them after the rape in progress was finished. In several cases, witnesses saw these threats being carried out.
Women Killed by Security Forces during or after Sexual Assault
Several victims of sexual violence and numerous other witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch provided chilling accounts of how at least four women and girls were killed by members of the Presidential Guard during or immediately after being raped. One victim was bayoneted through the vagina, another was shot in the abdomen, and yet another victim was shot through the head after being raped. Another woman was shot with a rifle through her vagina while laying face up on the stadium field, begging for her life to be spared.
A 30-year-old businesswoman who was raped by two red berets on the stadium field described seeing a young woman raped and then shot point-blank in the head:
The day of the march, I’d met a woman named K. Once inside, we sat side by side and when the shooting started we took off running together. When we reached the field, we were trapped by a group of eight or so red berets. As we ran, they kicked our feet out from under us—hard, forcing us to the ground. About five of them set on me and the others attacked her. They ripped off my clothes and held my arms and legs—two of them raped me. K. was just a meter away. In between the first one raping me and the second, K. was killed. I saw the soldier who had been raping her get up, take his gun, and shoot her in the head. I heard her cry out, “They’re going to kill us.” It was terrifying—I was sure they were going to kill me after they were done.[94]
A 26-year-old housecleaner who was gang raped by three members of the Presidential Guard on the field sobbed as she described seeing a woman raped and then shot in the abdomen:
They ripped off my pants with a knife and three violated me, one after the other. They pointed their guns at me, saying they were going to kill me, and beat me with their rifles. The beat me in my sex after they had finished. As this was happening, I saw a girl about five meters from where I was being raped. After they got off of her, one of them shot her in the abdomen as she was lying there. They shot her with one of their long guns. I saw the blood running down her body…. I saw this just after they had finished with me, but it wasn’t the same group.[95]
A 41-year-old civil servant who was severely beaten by a group of Presidential Guard soldiers, and raped by one, described the rape and murder of a young woman who was shot through her vagina:
I struggled to get to the field, shoving and pushing with the mass of people, but once there I was kicked to the ground by five red berets. They cut off my clothes with a serrated knife with horse hair on the end. They kicked and beat me—one raped me while the others held me down. I was struggling, but they struck me again and again. The one raping me was fast—I closed my eyes while he was on me, I didn’t have the courage to look at him. As I was struggling to get up from the field, I noticed a woman about 22 to 25 years old being raped about 10 meters away. There were about five red berets around her. After one of them got off of her, he took his gun and shoved it inside her vagina and shot her. As he was doing this she pleaded with them, “Help me, no, forgive me please, please, I’m sorry.” Oh God … I saw them put that gun inside her and fire … she was on her back with her arms spread out in back. It happened very quickly.[96]
A 35-year-old teacher who was gang raped by three red berets described seeing a woman bayoneted through the vagina a few meters away:
After the shooting began I tried to run, but the red berets caught me and dragged me to the ground. One of them struck me twice on the head with his rifle. After I fell down, three attacked me. One whipped out his knife and tore my clothes, cutting me on the back in the process. I tried to fight but they were too strong. Two held me down while the other raped me. They said they would kill me if I didn’t leave them to do what they wanted. Then the second one raped me, then the third. They beat me all the while, and said again and again they were going to kill all of us. And I believed them—about three meters away another woman was being raped, and after they had finished, one of them took his bayonet and stuck her in her vagina, and then licked the blood from his knife. I saw this, just next to me … I was so terrified they would also do this to me.[97]
Several witnesses described how other demonstrators tried to stop the perpetrators from sexually assaulting a victim or group of victims. Some were severely beaten. In one case, a woman in her fifties who tried to stop the rape of two younger women was assaulted with a knife by a red beret. One of the women, a 29-year-old seamstress, believed that the older woman had died of her injuries; however, an emergency room doctor interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported treating a victim whose injuries matched those described by the witness.[98] The woman described the incident to Human Rights Watch:
I fled with two others—an older woman of about 55 and a girl of 18. We were caught by four red berets on the field—they pointed their guns at us and ripped our clothes off. The older woman pleaded with them, “These are my daughters, they are young women, leave them.” But they said, “No, this is an order we must execute.” When the woman insisted, one of the red berets grabbed her from behind, ripped off her top and cut her right breast. He moved his knife in a circular motion. While the older woman lay bleeding, they kicked her … she didn’t move anymore.[99]
Extreme Brutality during Sexual Assaults
The sexual assaults were most often accompanied by additional extreme physical brutality. The victims described being kicked, pummeled with fists, and beaten with sticks, batons, and rifle butts before, during, and after the sexual assault. Many of the victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch removed their clothing to reveal black and blue marks; knife wounds on their back, buttocks, and extremities; and fingernail marks on their thighs, wrists, and abdomen. Several women showed Human Rights Watch the blood-soaked clothing and undergarments that they had worn on the day of the attack. Many said that they had bled for several days following the attacks.
A 27-year-old trader who had scars on her hands, back, and abdomen described her ordeal:
I tried to climb a fence to get away, but I didn’t have the strength to get over it. As I fell, a red beret dragged me back to a passageway where there were three more of them. One pointed his gun at me and ordered me to take off my pants. I refused, and they started beating me. They tore off my pants. One forced me to go on my knees and beat me on the legs, forcing them open. Three of them put their fingers inside my sex, then one put his sex into me. Other red berets were busy with other girls they’d caught at around the same time. They said, “You’re a whore, a dog … you’ll see, we’ll kill all of you.” I could barely walk. I fell down several times. I was in so much pain and bled for several days. I never thought the soldiers would be thinking about or have time for raping in the middle of their attack. I am not yet married and fear I will never marry now.[100]
A 35-year-old teacher who was raped by two red berets revealed to Human Rights Watch several black and blue marks, as well as scars from fingernail marks on her thighs:
I saw the red berets entering through the main gate and ran, but a group of them trapped me near the main gate. There was firing all around me—people were falling down dead. One of them ripped my clothes off, while others punched me. When they tore off my underwear, they saw that I had my period. One of them pulled out the tampon and forced it inside my mouth. Then he put his hands inside me, violently grabbing, scratching, digging his nails into the inside of my vagina and thighs. As I writhed to get away from them, two more put their hands inside me the same way. After doing this, they left me lying face down, completely naked on the field. My body hurts so badly, but my heart aches even more.[101]
A 17-year-old girl described being cut with a sharp object while being raped by one red beret:
I was caught near the basketball courts by four soldiers in red berets. They ripped off my clothes and while three of them held me down—one by each foot, one by my arms—the other one violated me. I was a virgin before that day. I was really fighting and screaming to try to get away and stop them from doing that to me. While raping me, one of those holding me cut me on the foot, leg, and breast with a sharp object. I couldn’t see what it was—all I know was that I had many cuts. I wasn’t the only one being raped—there were maybe 10 other girls being raped around me by other groups of soldiers. After the first one finished with me, a group of youths started throwing rocks at the military to stop the raping, and the soldiers started chasing them. This is why I wasn’t raped by all four of them.[102]
A 57-year-old woman, who revealed black and blue marks on numerous parts of her body and scars on her right arm, chest, and buttocks, described the attack during which she was also raped by a soldier:
I tried to escape but I’m old and cannot run very fast. I am really suffering. One soldier cut off my clothes with a knife until I was completely naked. He stabbed me in the buttocks and then raped me, while others beat me with the butt of their guns and kicked me. I pleaded with the one violating me and said, “No, don’t do this, I am your mother.” But he said, “You think you’re my mother? Hah!’ Then he beat me some more. I am a Hadjji[103] and even I was left completely naked. I don’t know why they did this.[104]
A 53-year-old woman who witnessed Presidential Guard soldiers kicking a young woman in the vagina described the attack:
Just outside the main gate, I saw three red berets and one in a helmet rip the clothes and underwear off a woman named F. Two of them spread her legs, then one of them kicked his boot, with force, inside her vagina, then kicked her in the ribs. She couldn’t walk. The Red Cross eventually took her away for treatment.[105]
Rape with Foreign Objects
Several victims and witnesses described seeing women raped with foreign objects such as pieces of wood, batons, shoes, rifle butts, knives, and bayonets. One victim interviewed by Human Rights Watch had been raped with a piece of wood. The victims of these brutal attacks were often observed to be lying on the ground with blood flowing from their genital area; several witnesses believed the victims were dead but Human Rights Watch could not confirm this. Doctors and nurses interviewed by Human Rights Watch described treating several women whose genital area had become infected from wood splinters and others who had suffered from internal lesions sustained as a consequence of being raped by a gun barrel or other object. At least one victim died due to her injuries in a hospital emergency room.[106]
A 36-year-old accountant who was raped with a large piece of wood by a group of Presidential Guard soldiers described her ordeal:
On the field I was surrounded by a group of red berets. They ripped my shirt, then my pants, finally my underwear. An old man who’d been caught with me told them not to hurt me. But when he said this, a red beret took out his pistol and shot him three times … just like that … in front of me. One kicked me, another one cut me with a knife. Then another yelled, “Bring me that piece of wood!” Then they shoved the wood inside of my sex. Two of them were holding my arms and others were holding my legs. They forced it inside me one, two, three times … I think they were going to continue until they’d killed me. They only stopped when one of the red berets said, “Stop—it’s enough now.” They left me completely naked. I had many splinters inside of me that got infected. I’m still in so much pain.[107]
A 27-year-old market woman who was gang raped by four Presidential Guard soldiers witnessed another woman being raped with a gun barrel, and while fleeing saw a woman with a shoe protruding out of her vagina:
As the red berets stormed into the covered area of the stadium, I knew I couldn’t flee so I hid under the chairs. Unfortunately, they found me and pulled me out by my hair. They put a gun to my head. One said, “Kill her,” but another one said no. Then they ripped off my pants, ordered me to lean over the chairs, then all four of them raped me. Just a few meters away, another group ripped off the clothes of a girl of about 20 years, then forced her over at the waist, ripped off her underwear, and pushed the gun barrel into her sex. She cried out one time and fell down. I don’t know if she was dead … she hardly moved, and by this time I was trying to get away. As I fled toward the main gate, I saw a distant family member of mine, lying dead with a shoe sticking out from inside her vagina. Her blouse was half off. I don’t know what killed her but I saw blood all over her body. We haven’t seen her body after that day.[108]
A nurse working in a hospital treating those wounded during the September 28 violence described a conversation she had had with a young woman who had been penetrated by a gun barrel. The victim died of her injuries, the nurse said:
One of the wounded was a young woman who said her name was L. She didn’t know her age but looked to be about 16. She was gravely wounded. She told me that the military had first laid down on [raped] her and then raped her with a gun. The nature of her injury was extreme, suggesting a serious hemorrhage. She had lost a great deal of blood before she arrived. I told her, “You’re going to get well … just hold on.” But she said, “No, I’m going to die.” She died a few minutes later.[109]
While hiding in a utility room inside the stadium complex, a 52-year-old professional administrator witnessed a group of uniformed soldiers wearing red berets whom she believed to be foreigners raping a woman whom she thought was deceased with a piece of wood. She described what she saw:
I stayed in that room, hidden under a table for a long time. While there I could see out into the stadium through a small hole. When the situation was calming down a bit, I saw the red berets bring three bodies and place them down in front. They were dancing and chanting in a language that wasn’t from Guinea. One of the bodies was a woman. They took a meter-long piece of wood and put it inside her sex—raping her with it. They danced as they did this. I have no idea if the woman was dead or alive, but she wasn’t moving and I suspect she was dead. The men were dressed in camouflage with red berets and shell necklaces. When I saw this, I couldn’t stand it … I started to cry.[110]
One witness described a woman being raped with a gun barrel, seemingly as a punishment for having attempted to escape from a group of Presidential Guard soldiers and gendarmes:
I saw a group of many women, young to old, being led out of the stadium, all completely nude. There were military around them, red berets and gendarmes. One of the women broke from the group and tried to run away, but two soldiers chased after her. They tackled her to the ground, then spread her legs and put the cannon of the gun into her vagina. They did not shoot, but the second one kept stomping on her with his foot. She was then taken back to the group.[111]
Abduction and Rape
Five women interviewed by Human Rights Watch were taken from the stadium by members of the Presidential Guard to at least two large private houses where they were held against their will and raped by several different armed perpetrators, dressed in military attire and sometimes masked, for a period of three to five days. All were subjected to extremely degrading treatment and suffered repeated beatings and death threats. They were all held by themselves, each in a single room which they believed was locked from the outside. Three were given tea or coffee laced with a substance that led to lapses of consciousness. One was forced to drink alcohol and given a white substance she believed to be cocaine. All of those interviewed were released on a street corner in either the early morning hours or very late in the evening, naked or with a small piece of cloth to cover themselves.
Two of the five women were initially taken by members of the Presidential Guard to the Ratoma Community Health Center in the Ratoma neighborhood. After spending some 30 minutes there, and while still waiting to see a doctor for the injuries they sustained at the stadium, they were forced at gunpoint into a military vehicle and taken to a house where they spent the next four nights. A clinic administrator interviewed by Human Rights Watch denied the incident,[112] but a medical professional working that day at the health center confirmed that the abduction had taken place.[113]
It is difficult to ascertain the total number of women held in the private residences, or if the five victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch were held in more than two venues. Both women taken from the Ratoma Community Health Center said, when interviewed separately, that a total of seven women were taken from the center and held for four nights in one venue. The other victims said that there were six, twelve, and some three women, respectively, in the houses to which they were taken.
A 42-year-old professional woman who was held in a house and gang raped for three days described her ordeal to Human Rights Watch:
As I tried to run from the guns firing [at the stadium], I saw a few red berets raping a young woman. One of them put his gun in her sex and fired—she didn’t move again. Oh God, every time I think of that girl dying in that way … I can’t bear it. As this happened, another red beret grabbed me hard from behind and said, “Come with me, or I will do the same thing to you.” He led me to a military truck with no windows. In it were about 25 young men and about six women, including me. After some distance they stopped and the soldiers told three or four women to get out. Later they stopped at a second house where they told the women who remained to get out. I was immediately led into a room and the door was locked behind me.
Some hours later three of them came into the room—all dressed in military clothing and with red berets. One of them had a little container of white powder. He dipped his finger in it and forced it into my nose. Then all three of them used me. They used me again the next day, but after a while others came in, two by two. I didn’t know how many or who. I felt my vagina was burning and bruised. I was so tired and out of my head. The first three of them were watching each other as they raped me. One was carrying a bottle of whiskey. He put it on the table and asked, “Do you drink alcohol?” I said no. Then he said, “That was before, now if you want to leave you’re going to drink.”
I was there for three days. At times I had to take one of them in my mouth, and the other one was behind. I am so ashamed. They said, “You don’t really think you’ll leave here alive, do you?” and at times argued among themselves, “Should we kill her now?” “No … let’s get what we need and then kill her.” At times I heard another woman crying out from a nearby room. On the last day at 6 a.m., the soldiers put a cover over my head, drove for some time, and then let me go on a street corner, completely naked.”
A 26-year-old businesswoman who was abducted by members of the Presidential Guard from the Ratoma Community Health Center described her experience:
When the shooting started [at the stadium], I escaped through a small door. Or at least I thought I escaped. On the other side, I was stopped by the red berets and ordered to get into a green truck. Inside were several red berets. We waited there for some minutes while more girls were put in. Then they drove us to the Ratoma Health Center, where some of us were told to get out.
About 30 minutes later, the military came back. We hadn’t even finished the registration process or seen a doctor. Six or so red berets came into the health center—a few of them had their faces covered with masks. One of them fired a shot. Then they pointed their guns at us and motioned us to go, “You, you, and you.” As we walked to the vehicle, we started crying, but they just beat us and told us to get in.
They took us to a villa, but the car had no windows so I have no idea where it was. It was a large house with a big courtyard surrounded by a high wall. I saw lots of soldiers walking around. Once we got there they put each of us in a different room. Later that afternoon they brought me tea, which was drugged. I immediately got dizzy and lost conscience. I was held for four nights, totally naked.
I don’t know who these people were—they were in uniform and always masked. They were drinking alcohol all the time. They came every night … sometimes there was one, other times three at the same time. They said to forget about our political leaders, that they were going to stay in power. They were very rough—they jabbed their guns into my stomach, telling me if I resisted they would kill me, kill all the Peuhl. On October 2, they took all seven of us out, put masks on our eyes, and freed us at a roundabout in town. I am so afraid I will get HIV, and pass it on to my family.[114]
.jpg "Anti-riot police clash with opposition protesters in Conakry (Source: Reuters)")
GUINEA OYE! 
