Wikileaks on Guinea: http://www.wikileaks.ch/tag/GV_0.html
Tag: William Fitzgerald
Guinean, Mr. Kaba, Comes to Washington Bearing Half-Truths, No Truths, and Innuendo
No one can deny that Dr. Kaba, originally from Guinea, is a charming man and has had a successful career as a university professor here in the US. He came to Washington today to participate in a US Institute of Peace program on democracy in Guinea. With the election just five days away, a panel discussion featuring Dr. Kaba and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Africa Affairs, William Fitzgerald, was timely.
After learning that Dr. Kaba has been living outside of Guinea for decades, it seemed odd that the Institute did not invite someone more intimately familiar with the current political situation. Before long it became apparent that Dr. Kaba was not there to discuss current Guinean politics, he was there to insultingly downplay ethnic conflict in Guinea and give the upcoming election a “kumbayah” sheen that does not exist.
As evidence of ethnic harmony, Dr. Kaba told us that both campaigns have multi-ethnic support, but avoided altogether the heinous ethnic attack by Malinkes against Foulahs over the last week. Yet, he found it necessary to raise the issue, in a characteristically vague fashion, of “some problem about people getting poisoned.” Of course, he is referring to the fake poisioning scheme hatched by Conde’s operatives to suggest that Diallo’s party had been responsible for poisoning food consumed by Conde supporters at a rally. While supporters did fall ill, doctors said the symptoms were not serious and that the culprit was spoiled food, not poison. Unfortunately, the lie was repeated and amplified throughout the country by Conde’s campaign in order to influence young Malinkes into taking revenge against Foulahs. Before it was over at least three were killed, businesses were burned, homes were ransacked and money and other valuables were stolen. This has led to a mass exodus of Foulahs from their towns and was done so by design. The Conde campaign used ethnic violence to cause Foulah to flee their homes making it next to impossible for them to cast a ballot in their home voting district on election day. Conde is so far down in the polls and with a first round showing of 18% compared to Diallo’s 44% is utterly desperate to “create” support even if peole are killed in the process. No ethnic violence, Dr. Kaba?
To further prove that there was no ethnic conflict in Guinea, Dr. Kaba stunned many Guineans in the audience when he said that there was no ethnic conflict back in the days of Guinea’s first president, Sekou Toure, either. So, Guinea has been”kumbayahing” for over 50 years? Of course, this is absurd and insulting and the good professor knows so. Dr. Kaba had already begun his career in the US when Sekou Toure announced to the nation in 1976 that Guinea had a “Foulah problem” and encouraged citizens to slit their throats.
Dr. Kaba’s political assessments were filled with holes you could drive a truck through while other comments about the candidates were pointed, yet made in a vague way. He assessed the two presidential candidates as follows: Diallo is young, educated in Guinean institutions, nice, polite, almost reverential. But, Diallo’s problem is that those around him write nasty articles about Conde. Isn’t this de rigeur during political elections throughout the world? Here’s how Kaba describes Alpha Conde (who has a long list of anti-Foulah hate speech to his name): Older, attended the Sorbonne and has a lot of equally well-educated advisors, such as Francois Fall and Lansana Kouyate (both of whom spoke openly and repeatedly about the poisonoing incident, fanned the flames when they both knew it was false and then did nothing to stop the carnage it caused). For Dr. Kaba to raise Diallo campaign rhetoric as a problem, but to ignore the Conde campaign’s hate speech, subterfuge, electoral fraud, sponsorship of young people to commit violence against its opponents supporters, etc. simply defies logic.
Not to leave out Fitzgerald. He told the audience that Dadis Camara got what he deserved, Konate has no interest in staying in office, and that Konate was not involved in the September 28, 2009, massacre by Guinean state security forces, even though he was the Defense minister at the time. He also added that international observers for the election include the Carter Center, ECOWAS, African Union, and maybe the European Union, but they are concerned about violence and not sure if they will come to Guinea. This tied in well to a question from a Guinean posed to Mr. Fitzgerald. She described the security situation in many parts of Guinea as tenuous and is very concerned that state security forces cannot be counted on to protect the people, wondering if the use of UN peacekeepers or a regional force might be called in to help. If the EU is concerned about violence in Guinea during the election what does this say about the ability of voters to get to the polls without fear or incident?
Alliance Guinea Seeks Input for Meeting with State Dept. Officials, Friday, March 5
ATTENTION: If you wish to provide input, please do so no later than this evening, Thursday, March 4, and send to: communications@friendsofguinea.org
From the Friends of Guinea website:
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
I received the following message from our colleagues at the advocacy group Alliance Guinea:
We have been invited by the State Department, to a special briefing for representatives of Nongovernmental Organizations, on the Current Situation in Guinea. The Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs, William Fitzgerald, will discuss ways that the United States can help facilitate the establishment of a democratically-elected government, restore economic and political development programs in Guinea this Friday, March 5, 2010 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.at the State Department.
Alliance Guinea will be represented and we would like to make sure that we are representing your voices, so we are reaching out to all Alliance Guinea members to gather your message for the State Department.
What would you like to see the State Department doing to support the transition to democracy, and help bring justice for the victims of crimes against humanity committed during last year dreadful events, in Guinea? Any questions or concerns that you would like the State Department to address?
Please take a moment to write few lines addressing the questions above and send us your reply no later than Thursday March, 4th.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Thank you,
Alliance Guinea
Thank you,
Alliance Guinea
Guinea: Washington Fears Grow About Ethnic Civil War if Camara Returns
William Fitzgerald, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and US envoy to Guinea, giving a briefing in Washington on the situation in Guinea, October 30, 2009.
Junta leader may trigger war
2009-12-20 11:30
Washington – Fears are growing in Washington that Guinea’s wounded junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara could return to Conakry and possibly trigger a civil war that could reignite west African conflicts.
Camara, reported recovering in Morocco after his aide de camp tried to kill him on December 3, could return to Guinea and launch reprisals that could split the army into warring factions, former US diplomat John Campbell told AFP.
In such a scenario, Camara might fall back on his ethnic militias who have ties to groups in Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to Campbell who is now an Africa analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
Guinea’s neighbours Liberia and Sierra Leone were engulfed in civil wars in the 1990s.
“If he (Camara) could go off to a nice villa in the south of France, it would be better for all of us,” said Campbell.
One US administration official told AFP on the condition of anonymity that Washington is “very much against him returning to Guinea” after hearing that Camara may be fit enough to leave Morocco in January.
The same official also suspects Camara last month received $100m from China that he has used to pay for weapons and for South African and Israeli instructors who are reportedly training his militias.
‘We’re very concerned about these ethnic militias and the potential’
The official alleged the payment amounts to a “security deposit” from China as it seeks a stake in Guinea’s bauxite, gold, iron ore and aluminum mines.
William Fitzgerald, the deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, echoed fears about the risks of civil war, although he did not say he opposed Camara’s return and did not refer to China’s alleged financial role.
“We’re very concerned about these ethnic militias and the potential, if Dadis were to return, of a civil war that would spill over the borders and reinfect Sierre Leone and Liberia,” Fitzgerald said.
“Dadis’s return would complicate many of the steps that we’re trying to take to return to constitutional rule,” Fitzgerald said.
The United States, along with international and African regional groupings, has been urging the junta to step down and make way for a transitional body since the army massacred dozens of opposition protesters on September 28.
And in Camara’s absence, Fitzgerald said, Washington has begun “reaching out” to the interim leader, General Sekouba Konate, in a bid to encourage Guinea’s return to civilian rule, including having free and fair elections.
The US ambassador in Conakry, Patricia Moller, has been meeting with Konate to discuss the best way forward, according to Fitzgerald who says Konate appears to be “an ideal transition leader” as he demonstrates no political ambitions.
Commission of inquiry
Fitzgerald said the United States is also “impressed” with how Konate has tried to instill discipline in the military since Lieutenant Aboubakar Sidiki Diakite, who is now in hiding, shot Camara in the head on December 3.
Diakite has been accused by some witnesses of being one of the leaders of the September massacre.
Fitzgerald suspects that Konate believes the massacre was also a “blemish” on the army’s reputation.
But Fitzgerald said Konate, with whom he spoke briefly during a meeting with Camara in Guinea in early October, has tended to defer to Camara since the military coup that brought the junta to power a year ago.
Besides backing a return to civilian rule, he said, “the United States supports the establishment of a political military observer force” in Guinea from the regional Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).
But Fitzgerald conceded there is no sign Konate will agree.
Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore, the mediator in the Guinea crisis, should press the junta on civilian rule and an observer force as soon as possible, Fitzgerald said.
The United States, he said, is also “eagerly awaiting” the findings of a commission of inquiry into the September massacre formed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
The commission has handed its report to Ban, who is studying it and is planning to forward it to the junta, Ecowas and the UN Security Council, according to UN officials in New York.
– AFP
The World According to Idrissa Cherif: No, Yes, No, Yes to Guinea Talks
Idrissa Cherif, spokesman for junta leader, Dadis Camara
Junta says talks on Guinea crisis to continue
The Associated Press , Conakry | Fri, 12/11/2009 7:53 AM | World
Top western diplomats in Guinea prepared to leave for neighboring Burkina Faso on Friday, as the erratic spokesman for Guinea’s military junta suddenly changed course and announced that the high-level talks on the country’s political crisis would go ahead as planned.
Minister of Communications Idrissa Cherif had earlier said that the negotiations were indefinitely suspended following an assassination attempt on the country’s military strongman who was evacuated to Morocco last week for emergency surgery.
On Thursday afternoon, the junta’s minister of foreign affairs convened the country’s diplomatic corps to assure them that the talks meant to find a solution to the country’s political impasse would go on as scheduled on Sunday in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Soon after the meeting in a further sign of how anarchic the government has become since the head of the junta was wounded, Cherif reversed course, saying that the junta had changed its mind and would send a delegation “to hear what the negotiator has to say.”
The U.S. State Department confirmed that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs William Fitzgerald was on his way to Burkina Faso. Numerous other western diplomats also said they would attend what is expected to be a critical meeting Sunday on the country’s future.
The nation of 10 million has been in limbo for the past week since a renegade soldier opened fire on Capt. Moussa “Dadis” Camara, wounding him in the head. He was rushed to a Moroccan military hospital last Friday where he underwent at least one surgery to try to remove a fragment of bone that had pierced his brain, says a diplomat and a doctor that were briefed on the matter and that agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The country has been essentially without a government since then and the latest sign of that was Cherif’s earlier declaration that the ongoing talks being mediated in Burkina Faso by that country’s president could not go on without Guinea’s president. His comments were read by the opposition as an indication that no one is in control. The junta has refused to name an interim president, saying only that a general known to be close to Camara is “assuring the interim.”
The negotiations intended to bring to an end to the military rule that has plagued the country since Camara seized power last year were launched after an army-led massacre of unarmed civilians. At least 157 peaceful demonstrators were killed by soldiers loyal to Camara after they gathered on Sept. 28 to demand that he step down at a rally inside the national soccer stadium. In addition to opening at point-blank range inside the stadium, the presidential guard also dragged dozens of women to the ground and took turns raping them. Some, including several young women who said they were virgins, were transported to private villas, where they were drugged and repeatedly raped by soldiers over a period of days.
Top opposition leaders had ferried several times back-and-forth to Ouagadougou to attend the negotiations and were deeply disappointed by the initial proposal recommended by Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore who proposed that Camara stay in power for at least 10 more months.
Now that he is ill, the dynamic has changed in the opposition’s favor, say opposition leaders and diplomats. Camara has not spoken since he was wounded, leading many to believe that he is seriously wounded and still in a coma.
Compaore had earlier told state TV in Burkina Faso that the junta leader was in “a difficult but not desperate situation” – a comment that was echoed this week by French Secretary of State for Cooperation Alain Joyandet who was quoted as saying that Camara’s wounds are not life-threatening but that he is not in a state that will allow him to return soon.
The junta, however, continued to deny reports that Camara was badly wounded, repeatedly announcing that he “is doing well” and is due to return “soon.”
With Camara incapacitated, several diplomats said that this is the moment to make a move and to demand a clear return to civilian rule.
“I think that if Dadis wakes up from his coma and decides that he wants to return, someone will very quickly show up to convince him that the best thing for his country is for him to stay put and not come back,” said a Western diplomat who was preparing to leave for Ouagadougou and who spoke on the condition of anonymity in keeping with protocol.
Camara came to power in a coup 11 months ago promising to quickly hand over power to civilians in elections in which he would not run. It was only months before he began dropping hints that he planned to run after all, prompting the massive September protest which the army brutally suppressed.
US on Guinea: Keep Camara Out, Work with Konate to Put “Country Right”
Two articles:
US sees window of opportunity in crisis-hit Guinea
12/9/09 10:43 AM
Washington – The United States is making contact with Guinea’s defense minister to see if he
may be willing to steer the West African country back to a democratic course after taking part in
a coup, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.
Defense Minister Sekouba Konate, who took charge of Guinea’s military junta after a December 3
assassination bid sent its leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara to Morocco for treatment, may be a
chance to put the country right, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State William Fitzgerald said.
Guinea is one of the world’s top producers of bauxite, a key component in aluminum, and
international majors including Alcoa, Rio Tinto Alcan and Russia’s UC Rusal all have mining
interests there.
Fitzgerald said the crisis in Guinea, where Camara seized power last December and soldiers staged
a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy campaigners on September 28, was a symptom of a
dangerous slide in West Africa — until recently widely seen logging impressive political progress.
US Makes Attempt to Keep Dadis Camara Out of Guinea
The United States of America has expressed its determination to keep wounded Guinean Head of State Moussa Dadis Camara, out of Guinea Completely. It seems the US government wants to install its own favourable regime in the country and is currently in secret talks with the caretaker leader Defence Minister Sekouba Konate while Camara is receiving treatment for gunshot wounds in Morocco. The US is keen on not allowing rogue regimes to have any say in African governance and see the crisis in the West African Country as a window of opportunity to effect its influence in the country.
Speaking to the Reuters News Agency the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State William Fitzgerald said “We’re reaching out to try and talk to Konate,” He also said that the crisis in Guinea was a symptom of a dangerous slide in West Africa. “We’re deeply concerned that West Africa has fallen back from where it was,” which he said threatened broader instability in the resource-rich region. “The last thing we need is rogue militia running around West Africa again,”
The US confirms that they had no direct information on the health of Camara and that nobody’s spoken to him, that the information they are getting from the junta is unclear as well. When asked whether the United States might be pressing Morocco to offer Camara permanent exile, Fitzgerald was noncommittal. “I would say that we are reviewing all of the options we have to keep Dadis out of the country,” The Deputy Assistant Secretary of State went on to say that with Camara temporarily out of the picture, attention was focused on Konate. They believe that Konate does not share Camara’s wish for permanent power. “All of Camara’s actions were ill concealed attempts to take over,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re not getting that same sense from Konate.”
Meanwhile, the junta spokesman said that Dadis Camara was well and would address the nation soon.
GUINEA: Amnesty Int’l Reports New Violence, But Omits Key Info on South African Mercenaries and Ethnic Militias
Amnesty International (AI) confirms what we have been hearing since the September 28 military massacre and mass rapes of unarmed demonstrators: the people of Guinea continue to be the target of serious persecution by the military junta as evidenced by new arrests, harassment and illegal detentions.
While AI mentions that the Chinese and French have been involved in training of the Guinean military since well before the September massacre, AI is not specific about the countries brought in by the junta after the massacre to train militias. One would think that AI would know a great deal about the presence of South African mercenaries in Guinea given that the US’ Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, William Fitzgerald, has stated that US diplomatic staff have seen South Africans outside the militia training camp in Forecariah (see: “US Has Evidence of South Africa Mercenaries in Guinea”)
In addition, junta spokesman, Idrissa Cherif, admitted that there were Israelis training Guinean forces. It is not known if he was referring to Israeli military or mercenaries.
Yet, even more inconceivable is that AI failed to share the fact that these militias are ethnic-based and run the possibility of instigating an ethnic civil war. This is another fact that William Fitgerald has confirmed (see article cited above).
Let’s hope in the next report on Guinea, AI will provide more details on the South Africans and Israelis and specify any other foreign mercenaries who might be involved. While it is prudent to review the Chinese and French training provided to the Guinean military thus far, AI cannot be considered a credible source on the situation in Guinea unless it provides specific information, regardless of the country of origin, about foreigners training ethnic militias.
Guinea: Evidence of new arrests, harassment and illegal detentions by security forces
Guinea: Evidence of new arrests, harassment and illegal detentions by security forces
CONAKRY, Guinea, December 3, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Guinea’s security forces are continuing to arrest and harass activists and others, following a massacre during a political protest on 28 September, Amnesty International found during a recent visit to Guinea.
Mouctar Diallo, vice-president of Guinea’s national human rights commission, was arrested on Thursday 26 November. Amnesty International discovered that Diallo is being detained in military Camp Alpha Yaya, for “endangering the security of the state”.
The Amnesty International delegation, that returned from Guinea on Tuesday, also found cases of over 40 people who attended the rally and whose whereabouts are still unknown. This includes dead bodies that were identified in photographs and film footage taken at the stadium but were not subsequently found at any of Conakry’s hospitals, morgues, mosques or military camps including Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo.
The whereabouts of others who attended the rally is now unknown. Amnesty International fears that they may have been killed or subjected to enforced disappearance.
The official death toll from the protest at Conakry’s stadium is given as 58 people but human rights organizations report that at least 157 people died.
Amnesty International has also uncovered fresh evidence about disturbing levels of sexual violence during the massacre.
Over 30 women told Amnesty International they were raped during the events of 28 September. Medical records gathered from Conakry’s Donka hospital indicate that at least 32 female participants in the rally showed evidence of being raped.
One woman recalled seeing her friend attacked by five members of the ‘red berets’ – the Presidential Guard: “They ripped off her clothes with a bayonet, pinned her to the ground and raped her. They then fired a bullet into her vagina.”
Several women interviewed by the delegation said they had been arrested by “red berets” soldiers at the demonstration and then held for over five days, during which time they were drugged, beaten and repeatedly raped while being filmed with mobile telephones.
“A climate of fear continues in Guinea. The authorities can no longer turn a blind eye to the human rights violations committed by its security forces,” said Gaetan Mootoo of Amnesty International.
“The authorities must fully support the efforts of the UN’s International Commission of Inquiry and ensure the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice.”
Amnesty international discovered that the security forces are also clamping down on any potential internal dissent within the military.
The delegation learned that eight military officers have been arrested since the events of 28 September and remain in detention on Ile de Kassa, an island outside of Conakry.
International military assistance
Amnesty International has gathered information about international military assistance and training provided to specific units of Guinea’s regular military and security forces involved in the 28 September violence, and is concerned that such assistance may have ignored and failed to address the past human violations committed by these units.
The assistance includes combat training provided by the government of China since at least 2006 to members of battalions within the Presidential Guard. Technical assistance in the training and organisation of up to 4000 new recruits of the Gendarmerie Nationale was also provided since 2008 by the government of France. Members of both the “red berets” and Gendarmerie Nationale units were present at Conakry stadium on 28 September. France has suspended military cooperation with Guinea since 28 September.
Amnesty International also saw 60 Kalashnikov-type cartridge cases gathered from Conakry stadium and two other locations in Conakry – in Kosa and Ratoma – following the 28 September violence. Nearly 20 per cent of these appear to have been manufactured in 2006 and 2008, indicating recent ammunition supplies to Guinea’s security forces despite repeated unlawful killings and the excessive use of force since 1998.
“The 28 September massacre and its aftermath is the latest example of a decade-long record of human rights violations by the security forces.” said Gaetan Mootoo. “Governments must immediately stop any support given to the Guinea security forces that could facilitate further violations.”
Amnesty International has also learned that the Guinean government has recently approached the government of Morocco for assistance in restructuring their armed forces. Any programme of security sector reform must be transparent and address impunity for past violations and operationalize human rights law.
Training camps for militia group members
The delegation found evidence of militia armed groups operating alongside governments forces but outside formal military and police structures. Many demonstrators present at the stadium provided consistent accounts of the presence of significant numbers of civilian-dressed men working with the security forces, armed with knives and other weapons.
The organisation has received information about the recruitment and training up to two thousand young men in two camps to the south-east of Conakry, as well as reports of organised gatherings and recruitment of youths in the Kaporo suburb of Conakry itself. This activity appears to have begun around August 2009 and is now being carried out partly by foreign trainers in the camps outside Conakry.
SOURCE
Amnesty International
GUINEA – US Diplomat: Some of Us Have Seen South Africans Outside Camp
In addition to the article below, if you double-click on the title, it will take you to a BBC audio interview with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, William Fitzgerald.
US backs Guinea mercenary claims
The US says it has evidence that South African mercenaries are training supporters of Guinea’s military junta.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa William Fitzgerald told the BBC mercenaries had been seen at a camp south of the Guinean capital, Conakry.
South African officials have already promised to investigate the reports which have been in the French media.
Guinea’s junta has been fiercely criticised for a deadly crackdown on opposition supporters in September.
Human rights groups say more than 150 people were killed when troops fired on an anti-government protest and many women were systematically raped.
Guinean officials say 57 people died and that most were trampled to death.
The demonstration was called in protest at rumours that Capt Moussa Dadis Camara, who seized power last December, planned to run for president next year despite a promise not to do so.
Dubai connection?
Mr Fitzgerald said he agreed with reports that Capt Camara was trying to shore up his position by recruiting mercenaries.
“Some of us have seen the South Africans who are up at a camp called Forecariah south of the city – so yes that is a cause for concern,” he said.
“I believe that they are military trainers.”
South Africa’s director general of International Relations Ayanda Ntsaluba earlier said the mercenary allegations were being taken seriously.
“The allegation is that there is a group of South Africans, mercenaries who are training militia largely recruited on an ethnic basis, supporters of the current military youth,” he said.
He indicated that the information pointed to companies operating through Dubai.
It also seemed to point to a “strong South African connection”, he said, but other South African officials were being cautious about the leads.
South Africa has strict laws forbidding mercenary activities.
Last month, the UN created a tribunal to investigate the killings in Guinea’s capital Conakry on 28 September.
The US and the African Union have imposed sanctions against Capt Camara and 41 members of his junta.
Former colonial power France and West African countries have imposed an arms embargo, while the EU has called for Capt Camara to be put on trial for crimes against humanity.
Story from BBC NEWS:
GUINEA: Junta Leader Prepares to Kill His Own and Destabilize West Africa
Guinea: Junta prepares to kill his own and destabilize West Africa
Thursday 19 November 2009 / by Konye Obaji Ori
A Guinean youth militia group largely recruited on ethnic basis is, reportedly, being assembled ahead of January national elections. The government of South Africa has deployed an investigation panel to the West African country following rumors that South African soldiers were training the ethnic-based militia. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, William Fitzgerald, has said his country is concerned by the development.
“The allegation is that there is a group of South Africans, mercenaries who are training an ethnic-based militia,” Ayanda Ntsaluba, South Africa’s director general of International Relations, was quoted as saying.
A senior US official told reporters that mercenaries had been seen at a camp south of the Guinean capital, Conakry. According to the director general of International relations, South Africa has strict laws forbidding mercenary activities. “We are taking the allegations seriously because of the elections due in Guinea next year. The information that we seemed to point to a strong South African connection,” Ntsaluba added.
This tension comes as Guinean military leader Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara remains adamant on running for presidential elections in January 2010. Analysts say the main fear of the junta is not unrest among the public, but a split within the military. To shore up support, Dadis has begun recruiting militia units from among his own Forestier ethnic group in the east of the country. He has promoted fellow Forestiers to senior positions in preference to those from other tribes.
Rumors however suggest that the military junta has an agenda ahead of January elections. If the reports of an assembling ethnic-based youth militia are anything to go with, then Guinea’s state civility and democracy stands to be threatened.
Spillover effect
Experts fear that further conflict in Guinea could again spill over into neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone, which have only recently emerged from years of violent conflict. There are also unconfirmed reports of former Liberian combatants joining the Guinean junta’s militias.
On November 2, the military junta was reported to have imported millions of dollars worth of weapons, despite international sanctions imposed on the country. A report which appeared in the Guardian claimed that the weapons were bought in Ukraine by the defense minister, Sekouba Konate, during a recent private visit, and their arrival was supervised by a specially hired group of South African security advisers.
According to Corinne Dufka, of Human Rights Watch,”The army is deeply divided. Members of other tribal groupings within the military feel marginalized and many soldiers have personally told me they are horrified by the massacre, which they say was the work of a small minority.”
One of the leading opposition leaders in Guinea has called on the foreign powers to rescue the country from Capt. Camara. “We are asking the international community to help us to dismantle his ethnic militias,” he is quoted. “The people of Guinea are in danger. We have the right and a duty to demand a humanitarian intervention.”
The leader seized power in December 2008 as a little-known army captain, promised democracy, but now has since shown increasingly erratic behavior and public humiliation of officials. He was criticized for a deadly crackdown on opposition supporters during a demonstration in September.
The demonstration was called in protest at rumors that Capt Moussa Dadis Camara planned to run for president next year despite a promise that he will not do so. However, Capt Camara allegedly deployed his army to open fire on the protesters. Human rights Watch say more than 150 people were killed when troops and many women were systematically raped by the soldiers in the process.
In response, West African states imposed an arms embargo on Guinea over the mass shooting of opposition supporters, the EU has called for Capt Camara to be tried for crimes against humanity, while the African Union has called for him to step down. Former colonial power France has already said it will stop weapon sales to the military government.
State Dept. Video: Guinea – A Situation Update
On Friday, October 30, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, William Fitzgerald, gave a briefing to the press on the situation in Guinea. Click here to see the video. The State Dept. plans to provide a full transcript and this blog will post it when it becomes available.
Further, if interested in reading a State Department article about the briefing, it is available on the “State Department briefings re: Guinea” page of this blog.
GUINEA OYE! 