The Final Call

Turmoil over broken election promises

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Graphic: MGN Online A reported 157 people were killed in the crackdown on the protest. ... Critics say Guinea security forces have a history of using excessive and often unnecessary deadly force against demonstrators and such suppressive practices were common place.

According to media reports, government forces intervened in a Sept. 28 rally at a Conakry stadium organized by political groups opposed to the military junta remaining in power and campaigning in national elections scheduled for January 2010.

A reported 157 people were killed in the crackdown on the protest the junta maintains was illegal and in defiance of a government rally permitting process after Guinea Independence Day celebrations on Oct. 2.

According to reports, a coalition of opposition activists, “Forum des Forces Vives de la Nation,” decided to proceed with the demonstration and some of the protesters engaged in violence against the police.

Critics say Guinea security forces have a history of using excessive and often unnecessary deadly force against demonstrators and such suppressive practices were common place under the previous regime of President Lansane Conte.

In response to the killings and alleged human rights abuses, there have been calls for accountability and international intervention. The advocacy organization Human Rights Watch called on the junta to “hold accountable security forces responsible for firing upon and killing dozens of generally peaceful demonstrators.”

France, which until now had given the junta the benefit of doubt, suspended military cooperation with its former colony and called a meeting of the European Union to discuss possible sanctions. France Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Capt. Camara and the CNDD to step down.

“Guinea before independence is not the same as Guinea after independence. As the nation is no longer under French colonial rule, France will not impose its will on a sovereign, free, and independent country,” responded Moussa Keita, a member of Conakry's ruling military council.

In neighboring Senegal—where President Abdoulaye Wade was an early supporter of the junta—there were official condemnations of the clashes and a sign of growing regional concern over Guinea's budding chaos.

A media statement from the Economic Community of West African States, which suspended Guinea's membership because of the coup, denounced the brutality and called for an “International Committee of Inquiry in collaboration with the African Union and the United Nations Commission for Human Rights, in order to identify the persons responsible and take necessary measures to address the situation.”

ECOWAS expressed continued concern about the reliability of Capt. Camara's vow to relinquish power before the upcoming elections.

The ECOWAS statement also referenced findings from the International Contact Group on Guinea, which met at the African Union Mission to the United Nations in New York. The group expressed apprehension about Guinea's electoral process delays and the continued deterioration of its political, security and human rights situation. The group called on Capt. Camara to officially reaffirm his promise in writing that he would not run in the elections.

At the time of the coup Capt. Camara promised neither he nor anyone in the CNDD would run for president. Only after months of postponements and political pressure from certain foreign governments was January 31, 2010 set as Election Day. Shortly thereafter, Capt. Camara decided he would run for office, sparking dissatisfaction and a decline in his popularity.

Explaining the shift in position on the elections, Capt. Camara denied he personally changed, but said he was being forced to represent his supporters in the military who also threatened another coup unless he entered the race.

The military came to power filling a leadership vacuum in Guinea when longtime President Conte died in December 2008. The coup mirrored circumstances that brought Mr. Conte to power in 1984 at the death of his predecessor, President Ahmed Sekou Toure, who led the country since independence from France on October 2, 1958.

Though the bloodless coup was condemned by the African Union, ECOWAS, the E.U., the U.S. and the UN, it received wide support among the Guinean people because of the brutal rule and corruption of the Conte government.

The people wanted change and believed the promises of the junta. The main assurance was that Capt. Camara would not try to hold on to power and he would stay clear of national elections.

Analysts say Capt. Camara appears to be following a pattern of strong men who forced change by the barrel of the gun “temporarily” to stop tyranny, only to hold on to power and become tyrants.

In the most recent spate of conflict between government forces and the opposition groups, Capt. Camara abrogated any responsibility and blamed “uncontrollable elements in the military” for the shootings.

Rights groups and independent observers say the violence and subsequent political arrests were another indicator that things have not really changed under the present government.

“The coup government pledged to break with Guinea's abusive past, but these deadly acts of repression and excessive use of force show how empty those promises were,” said Corrine Dufka, a senior researcher for West Africa at Human Rights Watch.

According to an Oct. 7 Voice of America report, both sides agreed to mediation talks brokered by Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore. Talks stalled over preconditions set by civil society groups that Capt. Camara and the CNDD resign.