Fresh violence flares in Guinea
GUINEA: Guinea was in the grips of deadly violence after the naming
of opposition leader Alpha Conde as the winner of the first free
Presidential election and his rival charged authorities with brutality.
Several observers condemned the security forces for excessive force
as the post-election violence claimed two more lives on Tuesday,
bringing to four the number of deaths in two days.
Dozens more were injured in an atmosphere fraught with tension over
the results of the November 7 election. Conde won the run-off poll with
52.52 percent of the votes but his rival Cellou Dalein Diallo, who
scored 47.48 percent, maintains he is the rightful victor, claiming
massive voting fraud.
The former prime minister has appealed to the Supreme Court, which
must confirm the election result.
As Muslims marked the Eid al-Adha religious holiday, Conde went on a
thank-you tour, greeting singing and cheering crowds in three Conakry
suburbs where he had topped the polls. Yet the atmosphere in Diallo
strongholds remained tense after violent clashes. Diallo accused
security forces of “savage brutality” against his supporters and members
of his Fulani ethnic group.
“I launched an appeal for calm (on Monday night) to show that peace
and security don’t have a price,” he told AFP and French international
radio.
“But security forces continued to murder and repress with savage
brutality.”
He accused security forces of having been “trained to attack one
ethnic group (the Fulani) and supporters of Cellou and his allies.”
Conde is a member of the Malinke ethnic group.
Diallo urged transition president General Sekouba Konate to “ask
security forces to stop killing our people, taking them from their
homes, imprisoning them.”
Washington also appealed for calm.
“We encourage both Dr Conde and Mr Diallo to urge their supporters to
remain calm and allow the court to evaluate any irregularities,” US
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
A police source said a soldier killed a man in Conakry on Tuesday.
“There was a dispute between them, the man tried to escape and the
soldier shot him in the neck,” the source said.
In Pita, central Guinea, one man was killed and 14 injured when
Diallo’s supporters looted two houses and a neighbour belonging to the
rival camp opened fire on them, a Red Cross official said.
Witnesses from Middle Guinea said soldiers had killed a man, shooting
and wounding several other people. The fourth victim died in clashes
between Diallo supporters and police in Conakry before results were
released. Conakry, Wednesday, AFP
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