GUINEA
GUINEA – Moussa Dadis Camara in prison
This Wednesday, September 28, 2022, eleven Guinean military and political leaders, including the former putschist Moussa Dadis Camara, are tried in Conakry for a massacre committed on September 28, 2009 before the court of Conakry. In fact, this trial represents a great satisfaction for the victims and relatives of the victims who can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
No prescription for blood crimes. Moussa Dadis Camara, the former head of the Guinean military junta, was arrested on Tuesday 27 September 2022. He is not alone. With him, 10 other co-accused – military and political leaders at the time. All, arrested and imprisoned at the Central House of Conakry, they will appear before a judge, in Conakry, on Wednesday, September 28, 2022.
It has been 13 years to the day (28 September 200/ 28 September 2022) since soldiers, politicians and militiamen opened fire on demonstrators during an opposition rally at the Conakry stadium. There were 157 deaths and 109 women raped, according to a UN-mandated international commission of inquiry. The civilian community feels that the numbers are far beyond that. This peaceful demonstration, repressed in blood, was intended to dissuade the former leader of the junta from running for president in 2010. According to the testimonies, the demonstrators were gutted with a knife, beaten with a machete, others died trampled by the panicked crowd, which was under fire. It should be remembered that Moussa Dadis Camara took power during a military coup in 2008. It will not last. Less than a year, turnaround.
Victim of an assassination attempt by his aide-de-camp and leader of the Republican Guard, Aboubacar Sidiki Diakité, aka Toumba, on December 3, 2009 at the Koundara military camp, Dadis survived miraculously, with two bullets, one in the head and one in the neck. The head of his aide-de-camp was put at risk. He was arrested in Dakar on 16 December of the same year. After his hospitalization in Morocco, Dadis Camara returned to Burkina Faso where he had been living in exile ever since. As soon as he returned from his exile to take part in his trial that the international commission imputed to him a “personal criminal responsibility and a command responsibility”, he is arrested and referred to the central prison to the great distress of his lawyer Salifou Béavogui, In front of journalists in court, he expressed his dissatisfaction: they took “our six clients to the central house (prison) where they will apparently be detained until the end of the procedure”. According to him: “Unfortunately, the trial begins with the violation of the rights of the defense.” This could show that the games have already been played. It should be noted that Dadis Camara and his aide-de-camp reject the accusations of this massacre, like a hot potato. The charges against them are heavy. We are talking about crimes against humanity.
After more than a decade of waiting, the hundreds of victims and loved ones, made up of civil parties, could not hope for anything better. Over time, they saw their hopes dwindling. With this trial, the international commission hopes that the hesitations of the power and the impunity erected as “institution”, especially the security forces become almost untouchable, things will change in the right direction. Only one fear: that this trial will not be an announcement that will hurt the victims, relatives and relatives of the massacre of September 28, 2009.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Morissanda Kouyaté, received this Sunday, June 1, 2025 in Conakry a delegation from the African Union, on an official visit to Guinea. On this occasion, he reaffirmed the commitment of the transitional authorities to respect the deadlines set for the return to constitutional order, while stressing the historical and central role of Guinea in the construction of the Pan-African project.
« I am very happy. The African Union is at Guinea’s side to accompany and support the vision of the head of state, President Mamadi Doumbouya, in favor of Guinea and Africa, in the political, diplomatic, economic, and cultural fields, declared the head of Guinean diplomacy.
This meeting takes place in a context marked by the preparations for the constitutional referendum scheduled for next September 21.
Morissanda Kouyaté also recalled the founding involvement of Guinea in the creation of the Organization of African Unity, which became the African Union. “This visit materializes the commitment of the Peace and Security Council to accompany Guinea in a dynamic of ambitious political and diplomatic transformation,” he stressed.
The minister indicated that all actions related to the transition are currently funded by the national development budget, while calling for a broader mobilization of the international community. “We have requested a round table, called the Basketfront, to seek support to speed up the process. But this does not mean that we will give up,” he said, reiterating President Doumbouya’s willingness to scrupulously respect the scheduled deadlines.
He finally wanted to reassure on the efforts made to ensure an inclusive electoral process. “We are going through a difficult period, and that is why we want all Guineans to be registered in order to obtain a reliable electoral roll,” concluded Morissanda Kouyaté.
Source: guinee360 / Photo credit: Page Ministry of Foreign Affairs Guinea
A court in Conakry on appeal sentenced a Guinean opponent to two years in prison on Wednesday for “offense and defamation” against the junta leader, one of his lawyers told AFP.
Aliou Bah, president of the Liberal Democratic Movement (Model), has been in custody since December 2024. He was sentenced at first instance in January to the same two-year prison term for “offense and defamation” against General Mamadi Doumbouya.
The public prosecutor had requested a five-year sentence on appeal on 22 April 2025.
The Attorney General of the Court of Appeal, Fallou Doumbouya, had considered that the sentence handed down at first instance was “excessively derisory”. At the opening of his appeal trial in late March, Mr. Bah had pleaded not guilty: “I do not acknowledge the facts that are reproached to me,” he said before the court.
According to his defence, Mr. Bah is accused of having, during meetings, “called the religious leaders (Guineans) out of their silence” on the situation in Guinea, and described as “incompetent” the CNRD, the governing body of the junta.
“The trial judgement was confirmed” on Wednesday by the Court of Appeal, which handed down a two-year final sentence against the opponent, Hady Galissa told AFP.
He specified that a consultation of the defence lawyers would decide whether or not to appeal in cassation before the Supreme Court. AFP journalists were prevented from entering the courtroom by the gendarmes.
This conviction of Aliou Bah takes place in a tense climate, marked by the disappearance of several opponents to the military regime and a severe restriction of freedoms in this West African country.
Demonstrations demanding the departure of the military are regularly banned and several media have been closed in the country.
General Doumbouya took power by force in September 2021 after ousting the civilian president, Alpha Condé, who had been in power for more than ten years.
Sources: seneweb
On Saturday, 10 September 2023, the Nigerian junta accused France of planning an aggression, explaining that Paris «continues to deploy its forces in several ECOWAS countries». «We do not recognize any legitimacy to the statements of the putschists», replied Emmanuel Macron since the G20 summit in India. Within ECOWAS, the possible military intervention against the perpetrators of the coup d’état at the end of July in Niamey remains an eventuality, even if obviously, we do not hurry.
The boat that had to transport Senegalese troops and others to participate in a possible military intervention against the Nigerien junta should have docked a few days ago at the port of Cotonou. But that is not the case. An interlocutor in the Presidency of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) comments: “There are still adjustments to be made.”
In fact, according to our information, the Senegalese troops are ready, but are waiting for the decision of the politicians. Some wonder: has President Macky Sall changed his opinion on the issue?
Ghana has also agreed to provide troops. They are ready, even if observers wonder: this country facing enormous economic difficulties, does it really have the means to finance the departure of its soldiers to the front?
Nigeria remains. President Bola Tinubu, at first, was the most determined to restore constitutional order in Niger by force if necessary. Abuja is the locomotive of a possible military intervention. But for the past few weeks, Nigeria has taken a step forward and then a step back.
Recall that at the end of August, and for the first time since the beginning of the crisis in Niger, the President of Nigeria and current head of ECOWAS evoked the possibility of a transition «if the military power [in place in Niamey] is sincere». Remarks transcribed in a statement on 30 August by the Nigerian Presidency and denied by ECOWAS had to deny the idea of a «transition calendar»And this, while Nigeria is considered from the beginning as one of the engines of a potential military intervention in Niger.
