Guinea rocked by street violence

Guinean paramilitary police clashed with protesters on the second day of street violence in Conakry.

Guinean paramilitary police clashed with protesters on the second day of street violence in Conakry.

Published Sep 29, 2011

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Conakry - Protesters barricading roads and burning tyres fought with security forces in Guinea's capital Conakry on Wednesday, a day after similar clashes killed three people, witnesses and a police official said.

The West African state is due to hold a parliamentary election later this year to complete a transition to civilian rule, but the main opposition party says the poll is being rigged in advance by President Alpha Conde.

“Protesters have set up roadblocks and are burning tyres to stop traffic. We're in the process of breaking them up,” a police official told Reuters, asking not to be named because he was not authorised to speak publicly.

He said he believed the roadblocks were partly aimed at stopping a ceremony by the government to mark the anniversary of a 2009 massacre of 150 demonstrators in a Conakry stadium by gunmen loyal to the then-ruling military junta.

Residents said police used teargas and truncheons to drive off the protesters, who were operating in groups of several dozen and blocking the main road between the neighbourhoods of Hamdallaye and Koloma.

“The gendarmes have come into the neighbourhoods and they are chasing people. Everybody is staying inside,” said Koloma resident Mohamed Diallo.

The clashes come a day after the main opposition UFDG party organised a rally to protest against preparations for the election, due later this year. No date has been set.

At least three people were killed when security forces cracked down on the rally, police and medical sources said. The government said two died in Tuesday's clashes and 39 people, including 23 security personnel, were injured.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International called on Guinean authorities to investigate the deaths and said Conde was falling into the pattern of brutal rule in the former French colony.

“It's deeply alarming that President Alpha Conde is resorting to exactly the same brutal methods as his predecessors,” Paule Rigaud, Amnesty's Deputy Director for Africa, said in a press release.

Guinea held its first free election late last year bringing Conde to power, a move that was meant to close the book on decades of instability and pave the way for increased investment in its mining sector.

The United States, which along with former colonial ruler France helped steer Guinea's transition back to civilian rule, called on the government to ensure the opposition was included in the political process.

“It is absolutely essential that (the elections) be held. They have already been delayed and it is important that they continue to move forward,” said Johnnie Carson, US Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs.

“It is important that President Conde continue to reach out to the opposition and to ensure that it is known to all that he represents all the people of Guinea,” he told an online briefing.

UFDG leader Cellou Dalein Diallo has said he believes Conde's government is seeing to tamper with voter rolls to win a majority in the legislative polls, and that Conde installed a close ally as head of the electoral commission. - Reuters

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