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RIGHTS-GUINEA: “We Can Forgive, But We Have To Know The Truth”

Saliou Samb

CONAKRY, Sep 1 2008 (IPS) - Kadiatou Diallo Sylla shares a shack with her family in Bambeto, a Conakry suburb. She is haunted by memories of her 14-year-old son, an only child: he was killed by the military during anti-government demonstrations in January 2007.

A year after a national inquiry was launched into the killings that took more than 186 lives, Diallo Sylla still doesn’t know who killed her son, Kerfalla. The situation leaves her filled with a burning rage.

“I waited seven years into my marriage to have my only son, Kerfalla. I would have never imagined that he would die like this,” she told IPS with tears in her eyes.

Her husband Oumar Sadio Sylla explained how police shooting from a car killed Kerfalla. He was hit twice, one bullet passing through his neck.

“I was at least hoping for his killers to be put on trial. But we waited in vain,” a resigned Sadio Sylla told IPS. “I have no faith in the inquiry. For now we just want to know what happened. We can forgive, but we have to know the truth,” he added.

Abdoulaye Diallo, however, is less conciliatory. His 19 year old son was killed with a bullet to the head on February 13, 2007. From his Koloma home in Conakry’s suburbs, he says he won’t rest until he knows what happened to his son – and justice is served.


“I can’t forgive. They killed my son under false pretenses. He was completely unarmed – not a gun, or a rock, or a even a stick. But they shot him,” Diallo told IPS.

More than 186 people died in the wave of repression that followed anti-government demonstrations and strikes in January and February 2007. However the government only acknowledges 137 victims.

In June 2006, at least 13 people, most of them students, were shot in the capital Conakry and two other cities of this West African country.

A national inquiry was launched to investigate the two bloody events. Mounir Hussein Mohamed, lawyer and president of the inquiry, says that the investigation has been obstructed, though authorities deny this.

“Absolutely no progress has been made and we’re at the same point we were at last year. This is unacceptable. The culprit here is the lack of political will,” Mohamed told IPS.

During public consultations held in August, an army spokesperson made a formal public apology. This followed an earlier apology to the Guinean people from General Diarra Camara, head of the country’s armed forces, in the wake of previous clashes between police and the army which killed 20 people in June 2006.

“The (political) will is clear and present at all levels,” says Amadou Oury Bah, Minister of National Reconciliation. “Military institutions asking for forgiveness is not a common occurrence. The symbolism is very powerful.

“There are different understandings of what justice means. We’re trying to build an alternative to the radical attitude where victims seek revenge by imprisoning the guilty.”

Bah stresses that the best way forward is to lay strong foundations for strengthening democracy and the nation. “We’re witnessing a historic moment. The whole nation will come to commend the victims for struggling for a vision of Guinea that will bring about an evolutionary change.”

Bah’s statement seems to be an accurate summary of the current government’s position, but its a risky one according to Madani Dia, a political analyst.

“The Prime Minister seems to have chosen to focus on improving living conditions while sweeping the killings under the carpet. If he succeeds in the former, then the latter will be forgotten for a while. However, if he fails, then the situation may get worse than what we saw in early 2007.”

The Prime Minister, Ahmed Tidiane Souaré is a close ally of Guinean president Lansana Conté. He was appointed in May 2008, replacing Lansana Kouyaté – the compromise candidate who took office in February 2007 with a mandate to resolve the crisis.

The investigation into the killings made no better progress on Kouyaté’s watch than under Souaré; it is made all the more sensitive by the fact that witnesses indicted individuals close to the president’s family.

Dustin Sharp, researcher with Human Rights Watch (HRW), says the government is being reckless and should make the national inquiry truly effective. “A very dangerous message is being sent to armed forces: that violence and lack of discipline are acceptable behavior.”

Sharp confirmed to IPS that HRW sent a letter this to Souaré in August stating their concerns about human rights in Guinea.

Souleymane Bah, from the the Guinean Human Rights Organisation (Organisation guinéenne des droits de l’Homme – OGDH), feels that impunity aggravates violence. “We will be writing a letter to remind the government that the victims of last year’s attacks have not seen justice. We plan to demonstrate if the government does not respond,” he warns.

Thierno Maadjou Sow, OGDH’s president, has called for an international investigative commission, a motion backed by most members of the local independent NGO coalition. OGDH feels so strongly that only an international commission could maintain the necessary independence that it refused to participate in the national inquiry.

 
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