opposition activists – GUINEA OYE!

OPPOSITION PROTESTER TELLS IT LIKE IT IS DURING MARCH PROTEST OUTSIDE THE EUROPEAN UNION IN BRUSELS

Article from guineenews.org , translated via Google into English, editing by Guinea Oye

The Opposition is not joining the Prime Minister for the dialogue meeting: “We will send a letter,” says Lansana Kouyate

posted on April 28, 2013 at 6:22 p.m.

The standoff between the government and the opposition continues to harden. Mistrust and suspicion in the political pond in our country are exacerbated by the publication of a presidential decree, on Saturday, April 13, 2013, calling the electorate to the polls on June 30. Since then, in both statements and speeches, disagreements between the two movements are growing. The international facilitator [Said Djinnit] appointed by the Secretary General of the UN on the eve of the publication of this decree has, for the moment, got a non-violence agreement among parties that has “lived” since the time of his signature. The march of April 25 was more dramatic than the previous (April 18), leaving one dead and several wounded, some by live ammunition, observers reported.

Another initiative of the international facilitator, after his round of visits with stakeholders, is the revival of the political dialogue. The Prime Minister sent a letter to the opposition at the beginning of the weekend requesting a resumption of talks on Monday, April 29 with the Prime Minister. The opposition takes exception to the Government’s refusal to rescind the decree setting the date of elections for June 30 which obstructed dialogue and release of opposition marchers arrested who were exercising their right to protest. The main opposition leaders decided on Sunday to refuse to participate in a dialogue with the government until these preconditions are met. According to the procedure, opposition leaders will dispatch a letter to the Prime Minister. “We will send our spokesperson [Aboubacar Sylla] to respond to the letter from the Prime Minister,” said the president of the SARP, Elhadj Lansana Kouyate, who was reached by phone overnight on Sunday.
Concerning our question about the purpose of the spokesman of the opposition attending the meeting with the Prime Minister — will he represent the opposition or only to file the pposition’s reply letter, Lansana Kouyaté said: “We send our spokesperson to deliver to the Prime Minister our response letter notifying him that we will not participate in dialogue as the conditions obstructing our participation have not been removed. ”

These conditions, according to the opposition, are the decree calling the electorate to the polls on June 30 and the release of opposition activists.

Furthermore, we learn that the opposition will not participate in current electoral actions and will not file any application for candidates in the June 30 election, being certain that it will succeed in preventing the holding of parliamentary elections under current conditions. Another week of uncertainty begins!

The opposition is involved in preparations for the net march which will be on Thursday, May 2, along the Fidel Castro Highway, we learn.

Nouhou Balde
Conakry, Guinea
224.669.13.13.13

Last Friday, on the third anniversary of the September 28, 2009 massacre, the funerals for the two young, unarmed opposition supporters, killed by state security forces the previous weekend, took place. Just days earlier, state security forces disrupted the “condolence”ceremony for Alpha Amadou Barry, by storming in to tear down white tents set up for the occasion, throwing tear gas at participants, and damaging cars.

On Friday, a massive crowd accompanied the bodies of Alpha Amadou Barry and Fode Mamoud Bah to the cemetery. The state security was out in full force. When the procession began to march past the headquarters of the RPG, Alpha Conde’s party, tear gas canisters were lobbed at the crowd by police and RPG members. Word came to those who arrived at the cemetery first that, further back the crowd, the funeral procession was being attacked and the crackle of gunfire could be heard. Without provocation, security forces shot live ammunition into the crowd and set off a huge wall of tear gas. When the smoke cleared four unarmed opposition supporters had been shot, two in the chest and two in the arm.

In an article about the state repression leveled at the funeral procession, an opposition activist expresses concern about the future, especially for young people, in Guinea:

“When I file this report, it is difficult to balance, but it is certain that the police are currently heading to the neighborhoods of the axis to conduct a crackdown, long after the funeral and for no good reason.

The youth have only one message now: give them the means to defend themselves because they no longer intend to be killed with impunity every day.”

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