webGuinée

Adam Nossiter
At Least 58 Pro-Democracy Demonstrators Said to Be Killed in Guinea

September 28, 2009
New York Times

Dakar, Senegal — Security forces fired on pro-democracy demonstrators on Monday in Conakry, Guinea, killing dozens, according to witnesses and news reports.

Troops opened fire as thousands of opponents of the military junta led by Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara gathered in a stadium in Conakry, the capital, to protest his plans to run in presidential elections next January.

At first the troops fired tear gas at the crowd, estimated to have as many as 50,000 people, and then they started shooting, according to witnesses, who described scenes of panic and terror.

Witnesses spoke of seeing numerous wounded and dead demonstrators. Agence France-Presse, citing a doctor at a local morgue, reported that 58 bodies had been brought in. Reuters also reported 58 deaths, citing a human rights advocate.

The violence came after months of tension in the impoverished West African nation, brought on by what has been widely described as the erratic behavior of Captain Camara, the military man who led a coup last December, soon after the death of the longtime leader Lansana Conté.

At first welcomed by citizens weary from decades of authoritarian rule, Captain Camara has since lost support because of the actions of his troops — which human rights groups say include robberies, beatings and rapes — and his own inconsistencies.

He appears to make all government decisions alone, frequently with television cameras rolling. Tirades about drug dealers and incompetent officials; interrogations of Mr. Conté’s henchmen; and homilies about his own humble background have all been beamed into people’s homes.

The “Dadis Show,” as Guineans call it, has palled after initially beguiling people in the former French colony, and increasing numbers have demonstrated to hold Captain Camara to his pledge not to run for office. Recent suggestions that he would run mobilized the crowd on Monday, which included a number of opposition figures, who were subsequently wounded and arrested.

Demonstrators held signs reading “Down with the army in power,” according to news reports.

“We saw trucks coming into the stadium and the soldiers getting out from them,” said a teacher who was there, Youssouf Koumbassa. “They were firing everywhere.”

In the background, gunshots could still be heard hours after the demonstration had been crushed.

“People started falling, wounded,” Mr. Koumbassa said. “They were running.”

Mr. Koumbassa said female demonstrators had been stripped by some of the troops. A correspondent for Radio France Internationale, Mouctar Bah, said troops seized his equipment and smashed it on the ground. He said he saw numerous wounded and dead people. “It was a macabre scene,” Mr. Bah said.

Experts, noting the increasing lawlessness of the Guinean security forces and a previous propensity for violence, suggested that Monday’s killings were not altogether surprising.

“Whether they had a green light, or these security forces were beyond the control of the president, either of those bodes badly for the future,” said Michael McGovern, an assistant professor of anthropology at Yale University and an expert on Guinea.