- In Guinea forced marriages are still continuing in Muslim ethnic groups despite the campaign of protecting the rights of women. It is a disappointing exploit that young girls are still facing. Parents instead of letting their daughters make their own choice, impose on them. Most of the time, girls are compelled to give up their studies because their husbands do not want to.
In Macenta, a prefecture 800 km away from Conakry, the population woke up with terrifying news. Two bodies were found dead.
Ismael Diallo, 35, a café keeper got married with Adama Diallo, 17, a student in 10th grade in TP secondary school. Their marriage has been sealed by the girl’s parents without her cons…
A 34-member transitional government has been announced in Guinea to oversee the movement from military to civilian rule. The body is headed by interim Prime Minister Jean Marie Dore, who was appointed last month by the general in charge of Guinea, Sekouba Konate, according to an official statement. - AfricaNews reporter said Guineans welcomed the new government with hope, satisfaction and enthusiasm. For the first time Guinea has a free handed prime minister who is chief of the government, according to our reporter.
Our reporter said the most satisfactory aspect for the people is the dismissal of those accused of being involved in the crackdown on 28th September 2009 - Commandant Claude P…
- A fight broke up between Muslims and Christians in N’Zérékoré in the south of Guinea, about 1,000 km away from Conakry.
A Christian woman tried to cross an area where Muslims were performing their Friday prayers in the district GNAIA Kpama-2 area of the former hotel "Foret Sacrée" where a mosque is located. Many traders are Muslims who perform their religious obligation there for reasons of proximity. The officer in charge of watching over the place prevented the woman to pass. Clashes occurred and the woman was an injured and had lost 80 kg of rice, 2, 000000 GNF and many other objects. She was admitted to the hospital. Subsequently, apologies were made to the lady and her losses r…
- The terrible earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday continues to make victims. With nearly 200,000 dead, according to the latest review, this is the worst disaster faced by UN staff on which the island is virtually decimated.
Among the victims UN include the Spokesman of the MINUSTAH (UN Mission for Stabilization in Haiti), the Guinean Mamadou Bah just added to the list of Guinean victims of this disaster.
During the earthquake, Mr. Bah was in the building of MINUSTAH since then his family and friends have tried several ways to contact him on his telephone and other means of communication.
Mr. Bah is from Dinguiraye but was born in 1965 in Congo (Brazzaville, Moungali); he w…
The acting head of the Guinea junta General Sékouba Konaté has said he had no intention of becoming the president of the country. He said the former head Dadis Camara too had the same intension before an attempted assassination attempt on his life failed. - Konate blamed "demagogues and liars" for the wide spread rumour making rounds that the junta wanted to hold on to power after the death of President Lansana Conté.
Speaking to UN emissaries from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and African Union (AU), Konaté argued that "God will punish all those who betrayed. "
"Neither I nor Dadis (Camara, the head of the junta) will be president in Guinea. We will repair t…
- Last Friday, The chief of the junta, Captain Dadis Moussa Camara, appeared emaciated with a long scar on the right side of the head. It was his first public outing since an assassination attempt by his aide on December 3rd, said the AFP.
He was wearing civilian clothes with a jacket over beige linen trousers, with spectacles. This contrasted with those held by parachutists with large sunglasses and red beret that he loved to wear when appearing in the public before December 3rd.
He walked alone, without help, but slowly with a frozen face. He did not speak during the ceremony; simply signed the document ending the crisis in Guinea.
Captain Camara, who is 44, arrived without war…
- The memorandum of agreement for ending the crisis has just been signed in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso through the mediator, President Blaise Compaoré.
Captain Musa Camara Dadis still "recovering" will stay in Ouagadougou and elections will be held in "six months" after the transition.
Note that the agreement also provides for a "role" for each of the parties present in Ouagadougou, including the delegation led by Colonel Moussa Keita who demanded the return of the head of the junta in Conakry.
Here is the complete agreement signed on 15 January 2010 in Ouagadougou by Blaise Compaoré, the mediator in the crisis in Guinea, Sékouba Konaté interim president of the ruling junta in Guine…
Hundreds of demonstrators besieged Conakry International Airport-Gbessia, on Friday demanding the immediate return of junta leader Moussa Dadis in Conakry. Posters, t-shirts with effigies of the ''miracle'' of Rabat are paraded and slogans chanted in support of Pivi Tiégboro-Moussa Keita. - According to the demonstrators, they will be at the airport long enough to witness the triumphant return of ''their president.'' They have even promise to invade the runway to prevent any landing that is not satisfactory to them.
Commander Claude Pivi aka Coplan and Lieutenant-Colonel Moussa Camara Tiégboro have gathered at the Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo, together with chiefs of staffs of all the armies a…
- Guineans welcomed the speech of the interim president with hope and enthusiasm but much prudence. General Sekouba konaté has promised to restore democracy in the country by organizing fair and credible election within a short transition. For some it is a new hope whereas many say caution is necessary for the time being because acts are better than words. People still remember the promises made by Dadis when he seized the power. Dadis promised to organize fair and credible elections and return the power to civilians but as time went on he showed his real face and expressed his wish to stand for the presidential elections.
According to analysts, Konaté is very different from Dadis. At the …
- Burst shots without warning on a peaceful political demonstration held in a stadium. Civilians surrounded by the army and killed on site with automatic weapons, daggers and bayonets, beaten to death with blows of boards with nails. Women raped and horribly mutilated, others removed to serve as "sex slaves" in the army camps and villas.
The UN Investigation commission on the events in Guinea considers that the massacres and other violence perpetrated on September 28 and subsequent days in Conakry, the capital, within the "crime against humanity".
In a report presented on December 19th to the Security Council, the commission attributed the responsibility to the Head of State of Guin…
- Burst shots without warning on a peaceful political demonstration held in a stadium. Civilians surrounded by the army and killed on site with automatic weapons, daggers and bayonets, beaten to death with blows of boards with nails. Women raped and horribly mutilated, others removed to serve as "sex slaves" in the army camps and villas.
The UN Investigation commission on the events in Guinea considers that the massacres and other violence perpetrated on September 28 and subsequent days in Conakry, the capital, within the "crime against humanity".
In a report presented on December 19th to the Security Council, the commission attributed the responsibility to the Head of State of Guin…
- Lieutenant Toumba who escaped since the day he attempted to kill the junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara on December 3rd in Conakry, accuses his boss of being the instigator of the bloody crackdown of 28 September in an interview broadcasted by RFI on Wednesday.
In this telephone conversation with a journalist from Radio France International, Abubakar Sidiki Diakite, alias Toumba, provides for the first time his version of events that led him to shoot at Captain Moussa Dadis Camara.
Officially, he "rests" in Morocco, in the clinic of the Royal Military Hospital Mohammed V in Rabat, after having been operated "on the head. But Guineans wonder about his true state of health, he has not …
The President of the ECOWAS Commission Mohamed Ibn Chambas, has suggested the "deployment of a protection force for civilians in Guinea where the security situation is worrying". - "I propose a preventive deployment of forces to protect civilians and humanitarian assistance" to contribute "to creating a secure environment for the Guinean population," Chambas said during the opening of 9th Session of the International Contact Group on Guinea.
The situation in Guinea has become "alarming." It "may not only destabilize this country" but "also undermine all our efforts to consolidate peace in post conflict countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Côte d'Ivoire " Chambas sa…
- The President of the Commission of the West African States Economic Community (ECOWAS), Mohamed Ibn Chambas, suggested the "deployment of a protection force for civilians in Guinea where the security situation is» worrying".
"I propose a preventive deployment of forces to protect civilians and humanitarian assistance" to contribute "to creating a secure environment for the Guinean population," said Chambas during the opening of 9th Session of the International Contact Group on Guinea.
The situation in Guinea has become "alarming." It "may not only destabilize this country" but "also undermine all our efforts to consolidate peace in post conflict countries such as Liberia, Sierra Le…
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has ordered the military in Guinea to step down and hand power to a civilian administration. - Meanwhile the coalition of opposition parties which operates under the banner of "Forces Vive" has affirmed the urgent need for the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD, the body formed by the junta) to cede power, and for the creation of a transitional authority to rule Guinea, as agreed by an international contact group and by ECOWAS heads of state in October.
AfricaNews reporter Mamadou Dian Donghol Diallo said it is business as usual in the West African state after the assassination attempt on the junta leader Captain Mou…
Guinea's military leader Capt Moussa Dadis Camara is said to be in a stable condition after being fired on by one of his aides in the capital, Conakry, AfricaNews reporter in that country reported. The country's Communication Minister Idrissa Cherif said Capt Camara was "doing well". - He named aide-de-camp Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakite as being behind the attack.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Senegal has flown a medical team to Guinea to help treat Capt Camara, officials said.
"He is injured. We don't know the degree and the nature of his injury," the Senegalese official said, quoted by AFP news agency.
The official said the plane was sent to evacuate Capt Camara to Dakar, but a report o…
- The Guinean Active Forces demands again the departure of the military power, the appointment of a civilian to lead the country for 10 months in their "new proposals" sent to President Blaise Compaoré, mediator in the crisis in Guinea.
"We have sent this (Monday) evening in Ouagadougou our new proposals to the mediator (Blaise Compaoré). It is basically a restatement of previous positions," he told the AFP and the BBC the president of the Union of Forces democratic (UFD), Mamadou Bah Baadikko.
He said the Active Forces (opposition parties, unions, civil society) have claimed in their document of 15 pages the departure of captain Moussa Dadis, his "disqualification" for the preside…
- After many days of negotiations, President Blaise Compaoré presented a document in which he made proposals for the resolution of Guinean crisis but the active forces rejected them because he did not take into account the masses’ wills.
Very angry against these proposals, the active forces preferred not to speak before meeting President Compaoré whereas junta’s delegation welcomed them with joy and enthusiasm.
According to an official document issued to the opposition and the delegation of the junta, the Burkinabe mediator proposes setting up a "National Transition Council" led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, who will remain in power.
"The mediator suggested t…
- Since the slaughter on September Monday, 28th 2009, journalists continue to receive death threats from the military authorities of the country. Their only crime is having related the events minute by minute for the benefit of their loyal readers and listeners.
Amadou Diallo and Mouctar Bah, BBC and RFI reporters were the first journalists to receive death threats from soldiers.
Hamidou Sow, a journalist of Guineenews in Conakry, testified that he received on his phone death threats from security agents on Sunday, October 11, 2009. "I began to receive serious threats on Sunday, October 11, 2009 when I attended a broadcasting held by Jules Mory a journalist of Horizon FM Private Radio, …
The president of the Economic Commission of West African States, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas has said Guinea is in danger of slipping into a new dictatorship. He said the junta, who seized power late last year, was repressing the people with "arbitrary and irresponsible" use of state power. - ECOWAS Foreign ministers are meeting in Nigeria to try to resolve the crisis in Guinea, glowed when soldiers opened fire on an opposition meeting some two weeks ago.
A statement by an eyewitness, Sy Mariam Diallo, who is also a victim of the bloody repression saddened delegates. She showed photos and videos as a proof.
Guineans this week held a two-day strike to remember dozens who were killed where…
Cracks are forming within the leadership of the Guinea junta following attempts to arrest soldiers suspected of killing over 150 civilians on Monday. AfricaNews' correspondent in the capital Conakry reports that there is an uneasy calm surrounding Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo, headquarters of the junta. - Our reporter said the junta is split into two – one led by the Minister in charge of the Presidential Security, Captain Claude Pivi and the Chief of the Presidential Guard, Lieutenant Aboubacar Toumba Diakite.
Deputy junta leader General Sekouba Konate summoned police to arrest Camara's aide-de-camp Aboubacar Sidiki "Toumba" Diakite but the arrest was aborted as a dispute flared within t…
- Since last Monday the situation is getting more and more worrying and uncertain for Guinean people. The Guinean Armed forces, instead of protecting the Guinean population commit the most odious crimes in Guinea. They are responsible for many slaughters in January and February 2007 and in September 2009.
Horror, terror, Sadness, hatred, dread, vengeance, threat, worry, traumatism and uncertainty are the words we can be use to describe the situation in Guinea.
After these days of mourning the future is still confused and uncertain because the crackdown has left unforgettable and unforgivable marks in Guinea. The Guinean army is one of the most indiscipline and rough i…
- Thousands of people gathered this Friday morning in Conakry on the esplanade of Faycall Mosque, around dozens of bodies of the bloody crackdown on September 28th.
Families of the victims wanted to identify and retrieve bodies in order to burry them.
But people, mostly youths, could hardly be controlled by the cordon of riot police. Several of them raised their fists as a sign of anger. When they saw the bodies and noticed that not only the number was bigger than the one given by the junta but also many of them had already started decomposing, they threw stones at security agents who dispersed them by tear-gas. Policemen could not help chasing people who were hiding in …
- Cellou Dalein Diallo and his wife were detained by the junta because soldiers did not allow them to travel by Air France yesterday. They blocked them at the airport and confiscated their passports.
After many hours of negotiations between the CNDD and Wade’s delegation, the Junta allowed Cellou Dalein to travel today. He travelled with the Senegalese delagation in a plane specially hired by President Ablaye Wade. They arrived in Dakar at noon. Cellou Dalein was immediately taken to a big clinic called Hospital Principal de Dakar where he had the first medical cares. His cranial trauma had been confirmed by doctors.
At the hospital he received the visit of many…
- In communiqué read on radio and television, the junta leader and his CNDD have taken the following urgent measures:
1-The presentation of the condolences to families of victims.
2-The creation of a National and International Investigation Commission for the slaughter of Monday, 28th 2009 and the killings of January and February 2007. This Commission will supervised by the United Nations.
3-The nomination of an African president for the mediation in Guinea.
4-The appointment of a Government of National Union integrating the political parties. This government will lead the transition.
Besides opposition leaders will not accept it because they said that they will not negot…
