Dakar, May 11 At least seven people died in the framework of the protests called this Wednesday in Guinea-Conakry by political parties and civil society organizations in favor of a return to constitutional order in the country, governed by a military junta since September 2021, they confirmed. organizers.
“Therefore, the instruction was given to the units deployed to transform Greater Conakry and certain cities in the interior of the country, designated areas for citizen mobilization, into a field of war (…) even if that means generalizing mass killings and the destruction of public and private property,” the protest organizing committee denounced in a statement late yesterday.
In addition to the seven “shot dead”, 32 people were also injured by shots, including 13 serious cases, and 56 protesters were detained during the demonstrations, the committee said.
“Faced with the will of the CNRD (National Committee for Grouping and Development, the name given to the military junta) to govern at the cost of death and blood, the FVG (Fuerzas Vivas de Guinea, the alliance that called for the protests) call on the forces of defense and security to disassociate themselves from the repressive plans of Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya”, president of the transition, he added.
According to the statement, “the FVG calls on all citizens to continue with the peaceful and citizen demonstrations this Thursday, May 11,” while the organizers have also called protests for the next May 17, 18, 24, and 25.
The protests, which also have the support of the opposition platform National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), are aimed at “the release of political detainees and a rapid return to constitutional order,” they stressed.
The FNDC, which is part of the FVG and which led the protests in 2019 against the third term of former president Alpha Condé, has organized several protests with the same objective since the military junta came to power and has suffered the arrest of several of them. its members, some of them still in prison.
Guinea-Conakry is run by the military junta headed by Doumbouya since September 5, 2021.
That day, members of the Army Special Forces Group carried out a coup and overthrew Condé, who had ruled since 2010 after opting in October 2020 for a controversial third term, not allowed by the Guinean Constitution.
The colonel argued that the coup sought to create the conditions for a rule of law.
After months of divergences, last October the military junta agreed with the Economic Community of West African States (Cedeao) on a two-year transition before returning power to a civilian government.
Guinea-Conakry is one of the poorest countries in the world, but it has significant mining, hydraulic and agricultural potential.
Its bauxite reserves -raw material to produce aluminum- are among the largest in the world. EFE
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