webGuinée

Guinea: The Next Civil War in Africa? — A new war in Africa, part 2

Mark Weston, Global Dashboard
Charles J. Brown Undiplomatic
Nov. 30, 2009

Things are getting weirder — and much worse — in Guinea, home to Dadis Camara, Africa's newest megalomaniac nutjob. Mark Weston over at Global Dashboard reports today that the UN is putting contingency plans in place should a civil war break:

[ A UN World Food Program official told Weston that he is going [to the Senegal-Guinea border] to investigate whether there are sufficient telecoms and internet facilities there, in case war breaks out in Guinea and a flood of refugees pours into Senegal. Similar preparations are taking place in Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The UN's caution may be well-founded. Guinea's increasingly-unhinged leader, Dadis Camara, has recruited South African mercenaries to train his supporters in the art of war, in case the majority Peul population decides it has had enough of him and moves to unseat him from power. I asked the WFP man what the Senegalese government's position is. He said that the president, Abdoulaye Wade, supported Camara when he took over last December, and has maintained a discreet silence since. “Guinea is rich in resources,” he explained. “It doesn't pay to antagonise those who control them.” ]

If Senegal, one of the region's few stable democracies, should decide to turn a blind eye to Camara's misdeeds in order to ensure access to its oil and gas, it would not be alone. As Tanya reported last month, the Chinese were happy to sign a a $7 billion infrastructure bauxite and oil exploitation exploration deal with the Camara regime just days after his soldiers went on a rampage, beating, shooting, and publicly raping fellow citizens who were participating in a peaceful opposition protest. Guinea has the largest bauxite deposits in the world and may have one of the largest unexplored oil fields. It also is one of the poorest nations in Africa where people live on less than $1 per day.

Roughly four weeks from now, Camara will mark the anniversary of his first year in power. Given his increasingly erratic behavior, he may use that day to move against the opposition. It might be useful for new U.S. Ambassador Patricia Moeller to stop by the President's office and reiterate the U.S. position that he should step aside and permit elections.