New demonstrations against the ruling junta in Guinea left one dead Friday, July 29 in Conakry according to the prosecution, four according to the organizers. In a press release read on public television, the Conakry prosecution said it had been informed by a hospital in the Guinean capital of the reception Friday of the “body of a 58-year-old man who was shot in his workplace”.
The National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), a coalition of parties, trade unions and civil society organizations which had called for the demonstrations, for its part reported “four dead and several wounded by gunshot, five of which would be between life and death”, in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse. In addition, four journalists were “attacked by demonstrators” Friday, said in a press release the union of press professionals of Guinea (SPPG) which “condemns with the last energy” these acts “retrogrades”.
These violent demonstrations started Thursday at the call of the FNDC to denounce the “unilateral transition management” by the junta. The National Alliance for Alternation and Democracy (ANAD), another coalition made up of parties, movements and associations, and the former ruling party, the Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG), joined on Thursday to the call of the FNDC for demonstrations in Conakry and on August 4 throughout the national territory. Thursday’s demonstrations had already killed one person, according to the FNDC, whose report has not been confirmed by the authorities.
Clashes in Conakry and its suburbs
The clashes between the police and young people broke out in Conakry on Friday morning, before stopping at midday to resume later, in particular in Bambéto, Sonfonia and on the Le Prince highway, areas located in the suburbs, according to a journalist from Agence France-Presse and witnesses.
Young people burned tires and overturned garbage cans on the road and stoned the vehicles of the police who responded by firing tear gas canisters, according to the same sources. Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, who overthrew President Alpha Condé in power for more than ten years (2010-2021) on September 5, pledged to hand over power to elected civilians within three years.
The junta proclaimed on May 13 the prohibition “until election campaign periods” of any demonstration on the public highway “likely to compromise social tranquility and the correct execution of activities” during the three years supposed to precede a return of civilians to the head of the country. The FNDC had already called for demonstrations on June 23, overriding the ban imposed by the junta. He had, however, suspended his call the day before the demonstration, to ” give a chance “ to the dialogue proposed by the transitional government.
But after the last meeting with the government, the FNDC denounced “a parody of dating”as well as “the solitary and authoritarian conduct of the transition” et “serious violations of fundamental rights and freedoms”. Speaking on Thursday in Bissau, during a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, the current president of the organization of West African states, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, assured that he had convinced the junta to accelerate the return to democracy.
“I was in Conakry (…) to make the military junta understand the decision of the summit of heads of state that the transition cannot exceed twenty-four months. They had offered thirty-six months, but we managed to convince them., he said. On the other hand, Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, Guinean minister and spokesperson for the transitional government, told Agence France-Presse that “neither the government nor the presidency confirms this information on the duration of the transition in Guinea”.