webGuinée

Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent
Guinea junta troops ‘killed and raped hundreds at democracy rally’

Times Online
September 29, 2009

Guinean police make an arrest in front of the stadium in the capital Conakry during the protest banned by the ruling junta. At least 150 people were said to have died and hundreds of women raped

The African Union threatened to impose sanctions on Guinea’s ruling military junta today as news emerged of more than 150 pro-democracy demonstrators killed, and hundreds more raped and butchered, in a brutal crackdown by government soldiers on Monday.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators had gathered at the main stadium in Conakry to protest against reports that the head of the junta, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, had reneged on a deal to stand down in favour of free elections in the West African state.

Soldiers sent in to police the rally opened fire with live ammunition and tear gas, reportedly after a stampede broke out in the stadium. Witnesses reported that troops began bayoneting protestors trying to escape while others stripped and raped women in the crowd.

Souleymane Bah, a Guinean human rights activist told the Reuters news agency: “Soldiers were firing at people and those who tried to get out were caught and finished off with bayonets.”

Dozens of bodies were left in the stadium while others were carried off by soldiers. The bodies of 157 people were taken to hospital morgues and 1,253 wounded admitted for treatment, but an unknown number of dead were also removed by the military. One doctors at a Conakry hospital said that his ward looked like “a butchery.”

Many witnesses testified to brutal and gratuitous sexual violence during the mayhem. One witness told the New York-based Human Rights Watch: “I saw the Red Berets catch some of the women who were trying to fleeing, rip off their clothes and stick their hands in their private parts."

Another told them: “I saw several women stripped and then put inside military trucks and taken away. I don’t know what happened to them.” Key opposition figures were rounded up at the stadium and taken from their homes, though some were released after pressure from the European and African Unions.

Corinne Dufka of Human Rights Watch, called the violence “shocking even by the abusive standards of Guinea’s coup government.”

Captain Camara blamed the violence on “uncontrollable forces” within the military and dismissed any suggestion that he be held responsible. “Those people who committed those atrocities were uncontrollable elements in the military,” he said. “Even I, as head of state in this very tense situation, cannot claim to be able to control those elements in the military.”

Captain Camara took power in December last year after staging a bloodless coup hours after the death of Guinea’s dictatorial President, Lansana Conte. He promised then to lead Guinea to democracy and vowed he would not stand in elections to be held in 2009. But the elections have been pushed back to 2010 and Captain Camara maintains he has the right to run.

The little known army captain was embraced at first when his men broke down the glass doors of the state broadcaster and announced the dissolution of the constitution and imposed military rule, claiming democracy would come soon.

But his tactics were questioned when he authorised raids on the homes of the former president’s inner circle and accused former officials of corruption and links to the drugs trade. They included the president’s son, who was shown on television confessing to smuggling cocaine.

The African Union, which suspended Guinea following the coup, said it was preparing an investigation into the violence that could result in sanctions against the military regime.

France, Guinea’s former colonial ruler, said that it was suspending military ties following the “savage and bloody” crackdown. Bernard Kuchner, the French Foreign Minister, said Fance was also reviewing bilateral aid to the country and called for a EU meeting to be held today to decide on a combined response from Brussels.