Guinea

Opposition says Liberians used in Conakry massacre

Article published on the 2009-10-06 Latest update 2009-10-06 11:23 TU

The Guinean army violently repressed a demonstration in Conakry, 28 September 2009.
(Photo: AFP)

A leader of the Guinean opposition says that he saw members of a Liberian militia acting alongside presidential guards during the bloody crackdown on demonstrators last week in Conakry that left more than 150 dead.

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Guinean opposition leader Jean-Marie Doré was in Conakry's stadium last week, when the army fired on demonstrators and raped and sexually assaulted scores of women.

“I can categorically confirm that among the five red berets [presidential guards] who assaulted us, two were from Ulimo,” Doré said, referring to the notorious United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy, a rebel group noted for the atrocities it committed during the Liberian civil war.

In an interview with RFI’s French-language service, Doré, who comes from Guinea’s east where Ulimo forces hid out, said that the Liberian militia members wore religious fetishes around their necks and were visibly on drugs. Both of these were characteristic features of the Liberian civil war.

The Ulimo forces encouraged Guinean soldiers to slit the protestors’ throats, Doré said.

Guinean leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara denies inviting the Liberians to participate. He claims the army acted on its own.

While he has called for an investigation into the killings, Camara reacted angrily to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's suggestion of an international intervention on Sunday.

“France is sovereign, and Guinea is sovereign. Guinea is not a district of France. When the French Foreign Minister says something like that, this is a way of denigrating the people of Africa,” Camara told RFI's sister television France 24.

Blaise Compaoré, President of Burkina Faso, has quickly become the mediator of choice since the massacre. The UN and EU have endorsed his call for junta officials and opposition members to meet in Ouagadougou to negotiate an understanding before elections slated for December.

The actual number of people killed during the crackdown is difficult to determine because of reports that bodies were removed from hospital morgues. The government claims 57 people were killed, while one NGO puts forward the number of 157 deaths with 1200 injured. The UN says 150 died.