2023-04-20 18:22:54
After the markets of Dabondy, Entag, and Enco 5, it is Matoto’s turn to catch fire. It was around 5 a.m. on Thursday, April 20. The fire ravaged about twenty shops and containers inside and outside the market. The victims accuse the mayor of the Commune of Matoto, Mamadouba Toss Camara, of having ordered the police to “clear off and set fire” to the tables of the stallholders who clog the roads along the market and the rights-of-way of the road.
An eyewitness to this tragedy, Souaïbou Barry reports that he was returning from the mosque with his friends when they saw the flames. Wanting to intervene, they would have been prevented by the police. It was later that the fire reached the market via the electric cables.
According to a provisional report established by the victims, fifteen containers and eleven stores were completely charred. Twenty-nine others are half burned. They contained among other things: television sets, air conditioners, mobile phones, shoes, clothes, shoes and household appliances… It took at least three hours of struggle for the young people and the firefighters to control the flames.
Around 9 am, police pickups arrive on the scene, the situation degenerates. With throwing stones, the angry victims disrupt traffic and rage on a bus carrying national advisers of the CNT. Came to see the extent of the damage, the mayor Mamadouba Toss Camara was quick to pay the price. He was booed and chased away. It took the intervention of the gendarmerie, the Bata (autonomous battalion of airborne troops) and the use of tear gas to calm the rebels.
Among the victims, Ibrahima Bah, seller of school materials. Nothing could be saved. His two shops are consumed by the flames. “It was at 5 o’clock that I was called to inform me that the market had caught fire. Note, there is nothing left. I was told that it was the police who set the fire”. He says he lost a large sum of money left in the shop. He relies on God and does not intend to file a complaint.
A commission of inquiry set up
Accused of being in cahoots with the authorities and of taking bribes to allow stallholders to set up shop, the market administrators preferred to entrust their language to the cat. Cherif Aliou, regional president of the Chamber of Commerce of Conakry, calls for calm and patience. As an interface between the government and the private sector, he said he was saddened by the damage caused by the fire in this market. He promises to get personally involved so that the light is shed on this affair. “A Joint Commission of Inquiry will be set up today. They will come to the scene to collect information, collect data and list the victims and the losses in order to identify those responsible who will be brought to justice”. Chérif Aliou cannot incriminate anyone before the report of the investigation, but promises to fight with the authorities so that the victims are compensated.
“No one will be protected”
Sekouba Camara, regional inspector of trade, industry and SMEs in Conakry, said he sympathized with the pain of the victims. He assures that this “infamous” act will not go unpunished. He specifies that the Commission of Inquiry has a judicial section made up of the judicial and scientific police who will hear victims and witnesses to gather evidence. “The suspects will be put before the facts and will answer before the law”. For the administrative aspect, a bailiff will be responsible for making the report, drawing up an assessment of the losses and evaluating their values. “We will report to whom it may concern,” says Sékouba Camara. And to add: “No one will be protected. It’s up to investigators to determine who is responsible or suspect, but no one is above the law. The suspects will answer for the charges brought against them.”
The inspectors order nothing to be moved on the premises. “The Gendarmerie will establish a security perimeter, because these are clues that will allow investigators to carry out the census”. Victims don’t hear it that way. They prefer to secure their goods, at least save what is left of them. They are afraid that the light will not be shed or that they will never obtain compensation, especially if part of the investigation is entrusted to the police, the same ones who are accused of having set fire to the market.
Abdoulaye Pellel Bah
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