• by Saliou Samb (conakry)
• Thursday, October 08, 2009
• Inter Press Service

Under growing pressure ten days after a violent crackdown, killed 157 civilians, Guinean junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara has announced an independent committee of inquiry into the deaths.

The junta continues to insist that only 57 people died, mostly killed in a stampede, but human rights organisations and the U.N. say heavily-armed soldiers killed 157 people at Conakry Stadium on Sep. 28.

Captain Moussa Dadis Camara says a commission of inquiry into events will have 31 representatives, including members of the judiciary and the civil society.

Burkinabé president Blaise Compaoré has attempted to mediate between Guinea's military government and the 'Forum des Forces Vives, but the coalition of political parties, trade unions and civil society groups says Camara must dissolve the ruling military council and resign before they will participate in any political process.

More than 50,000 people responded to a call to attend a Sep 28 rally organised by the Forum des Forces to express opposition to junta leader Camara's candidacy in presidential elections scheduled for January 2010.

According to witnesses, soldiers armed with automatic weapons, machetes and knives attacked the rally held in a stadium in the capital Conakry, firing live ammunition into the crowd.

Damning reports of the gang rape of women in broad daylight during the crackdown have emerged; soldiers are reported to have violated their victims with guns, sticks and boots.

Recalling the carnage, Mariama Sy Diallo, a prominent member of Guinean civil society, told media, 'They fired on us like we were animals. When I was told they were raping women, I tried hide in the crowd so as to save myself.'

She says she herself was chased and beaten by soldiers in the stadium.

'As long as these people remain in power, I will not return to Guinea,' says Sy Diallo, presently in the Senegalese capital Dakar receiving treatment for injuries.

Days after the bloody crackdown, authorities were still trying to downplay the death toll, officially announcing 57 dead.

But an Oct. 2 ceremony to hand over the bodies of the dead came to an abrupt end when many people who came to at the main mosque in Conakry were unable to retrieve the bodies of their relatives. The situation became tense and police used tear gas, and fired shots into the air to disperse the enraged relatives of victims.

Papa Koly Kourouma, environment minister and close associate of the head of the junta, said this: 'Let those who say there were 157 deaths show us the one hundred missing bodies. The director of the Ignace Deen Hospital and Medical Examiner have put the figure at 57 dead. So I do not understand why rumours of the existence of mass graves continue.'

Non-governmental organisations dealing with human rights say the military has secretly buried the bodies in mass graves.

Thierno Maadjou Sow, president of the Guinean Human Rights Organisation tells IPS, 'The official evidence we have gathered tells us that soldiers went to hospitals to remove bodies and send them to unknown destinations.'

Observers say they are very worried about the future of the country, especially as the junta leader has admitted to the media that he does not control the army. Many observers believe that the investigation can only be carried out by an international commission of inquiry whose authority the junta accepts, even if it accuses its opponents of being behind the situation.

Youssouf Sylla, a humanitarian law expert based in Conakry, tells IPS, 'The scale of the massacre and the barbaric nature of the crimes committed can only be judged by an international criminal court. Guinean courts have neither the human resources nor the means to take charge of this issue.'

He adds, 'After January and February 2007 when the army fired on the crowd killing more than 130 people (official figure), a proper investigation was not allowed. It is because authorities downplayed this incident that the massacres of Monday, September 28 took place.

'What threat was posed by an unarmed crowd in an enclosed area? '

Political scientist Madani Dia told IPS, 'I fear for the future of this country. If we want to stop crimes going unpunished in Guinea, we will have to considerably reduce the influence of the army in state affairs.'

Gilles Yabi, a former analyst with the International Crisis Group told IPS only limited action was possible at present. 'The Guinean army will remain a threat to civilians for a while yet. But I think for now one will just have to live with it and gradually create the conditions for radical reform.'

He added, 'The United Nations, the European Union, the African Union and other international bodies are doing everything possible to isolate the junta, but I think the precondition is to send an international intervention force to alleviate the sense of omnipotence of the killers.'

Hemmed in on all sides by international pressure, the junta has proposed establishing a government of national unity, inclusive of the various political parties. The initiative has been categorically rejected by the opposition.

Mouctar Diallo is a young opponent who, like all political leaders present at the stadium on Monday, was beaten by the military. 'We're not interested in that kind of red herring. Captain Moussa Dadis Camara has lost all credibility in the eyes of a population he has massacred.'

Some observers also fear a division within the junta, between one camp wanting to avoid sanctions imposed by an international criminal court, and the other camp having no choice but to adopt the regime’s ever-hardening stance.

*An earlier version of this article appeared on the IPS French service on Oct. 2.

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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