Conakry, capital of the francophone West African country of Guinea, is bracing for a new round of violence following last month's general strike which left at least 59 dead and 1400 injured. The strikes were organized by Guinea's powerful labor unions to pressure President Lansana Conte, an aging dictator, to appoint a prime minister without ties to the current regime and devolve some of his considerable powers. On January 28, after an 18-day standstill, Conte and the unions reached a deal.
However, union leaders are unhappy with President Lansana Conte's choice of prime minister, and are planning to go ahead with a second round of strikes, due to start tomorrow. In the last few days, 8 civilians have already been killed, including two in an incident were presidential security forces opened fire on youths throwing stones (Fr) at the president's motorcade.
By all accounts, the unions have considerable support among the Guinean people, who also want Conte to share power or step down.
A Dictator Whose Days are “Conté”
Head of State Update, a blog about heads of state around the world, has an excellent backgrounder on Conte and his rise to power. After independence in 1958, Guinea was governed by Ahmed Sékou Toure, “a union leader who had been one of the most prominent anti-French activists during the colonial period.” Toure was a Marxist who enjoyed the support of labor unions that became powerful interest groups under his rule. When Toure died in 1984 on an operating table in the US, where he had gone to seek medical treatment for a heart condition, Lansana Conte staged a coup d'etat. Head of State writes:
“General Conte has tried to ruled with an iron fist just like his predecessor. But as a non-Marxist he could not rely on the support of Guinea's powerful labor unions, which had been a traditional supporter of the old president's regime. He's also had to face unrest in the military and increasing pressures from the public at large to democratize the nation's political system.”
Why do the unionists want Conte out? It seems that Conte's abuse of power has become more than the unions - and many Guineans - can bear.
In December, to give one example, Conte drove, sirens blaring, to the Conakry prison to personally free two of his friends (Fr) who had been imprisoned ten days earlier for their part in the embezzlement of 16 billion Guinean francs in public funds. The unions have accused Conte of squandering Guinea's mineral wealth and say that Conte, who has a long history of heart problems that frequently take him abroad for treatment, is too sick to properly manage the country.
Alex Seck, a Senegalese blogger who has been closely following events in Conakry, lambasted Conte for being woefully out of touch with public sentiment, describing an incident where Conte told the unionists that “he was also a public servant, so he was on strike and could not look at their list of demands until the word had been given to call off the strike.” (Fr)
Congolese blogger Le Pangolin thinks that “Lansana Conte seems to have forgotten that he has lost his power, which now finds itself in the hands of the people” (Fr), and that Conte should resign before it's too late:
“Pour prendre leçon de l'histoire, Lansana Conté aurait dores et déjà l'intelligence de négocier son départ avec dignité, de façon à se retire sans faire trop de dégâts pour lui et son clan. Maintenant qu'il a encore une parcelle de pouvoir certes mince, il peut encore faire prévaloir certaines revendications. Après il lui sera trop tard, car la dynamique créée par la victoire de janvier 2007 sur lui a réconforté le peuple guinéen que ce dernier n'était pas invincible et que qu'il n'avait pas de pouvoir. Et surtout que les répressions sanglantes marquent le peuple et le fortifient. C'est ce qui explique aisément que les syndicats guinéens donnent des ultimatums à Lansana Conté, c'est que les choses ont changé en profondeur en Guinée.”
Democracy of the Streets
At his blog Black Star Journal, Brian, a former peace corps volunteer in Guinea, quoting a high-level government official, writes that Guinea is in “virtual insurrection.”
The unions 
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The situation with a man like Conte is not as futile as some say. A deal must be brokered by some government that Conte would trust, but like all men of his ilk, what he wants is control. In these, his twilight years, he does not want to find himself tossed out, penniless or subject to trial as a war criminal or for crimes against humanity. These are the key things for such a man, and there may also be some concern that “his” Guinea go to hands capable of keeping it from falling into disarray and ruin. Others may know better who best to broker such a deal, but with his health so poor and him so aged, the cost of a smooth transition of power need not be measured in blood. Consider this: All men do everything out of love or fear. Provide him with an option which cures his Pain (per se), his fears, and he is smart enough to accept that deal, so long as he trusts that the bargain will be kept once he lets loose of the power.
[...] As Guinea has started a process that may lead to the dismantling of its 50-year dictatorship, bloggers from the Republic of Congo (not to be confused with the Democratic Republic of Congo), a country with its own dinosaur dictator Denis Sassou Nguesso are daring to dream of ways in which he might be brought down. That being said, they are definitely at a much earlier phase in the process and are mainly discussing how the opposition might get its act together and unify against him. [...]
[...] For more information on the situation than you’ll probably ever need, check this link-laden story from Global Voices. Tags: guinea, africa, west africa, dictatorship, civil strife, protests, Dispatches, Tag Index [...]
[...] The civil unrest in Guinea is provoking discussion all over the African continent about the potential for change, specifically for the potential to remove aging dictators, like Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Today’s Global Voices includes a great overview of opposition voices in Congo-Brazzaville - a very different nation from the huge Congo-Kinshasa it borders to the east. [...]
i’m yo boy from england. we just need some changes in africa especially Guienea where i’m from cause the population is daying and daying everyday and none of us waht that.
J’exprime dans le texte ci-dessous mon opinion sur deux questions; la première sur le point 4 du Communiqué de la société civile: ”4. Le Premier Ministre constituant ensuite son gouvernement après consultation des différents acteurs. La seconde sur la commission d’enquête et l’intervention extérieure. Je vous remercie d’avance de la peine que vous prenez de publier cette opinion.
Ali B. Sadja
Je souhaite exposer dans les lignes qui suivent mon humble avis sur deux questions brûlantes.
A - Dans le processus de sortie de crise, la société civile prescrit que le Premier Ministre sera nommé sur la base de consultations entre les acteurs nationaux. Ces consultations devront proposer au Chef de l’Etat une liste de quatre personnalités dont l’une sera nommée. Au point 4, le Communiqué indique, je cite:
4. Le Premier Ministre constituant ensuite son gouvernement après consultation des différents acteurs.
Il me semble que cette exigence de la société est exagérée par cela qu’elle est une tendance à libérer le Premier Ministre du Préssident, mais à l’inféoder à ceux qui l’ont proposé. Or si la liberté est laissée au Président de choisir entre quatre personnalité, la conséquence logique est que le Premier Ministre et le Gouvernement qu’il va librement constituer seront une équipe d’hommes crédibles, francs de tout anchrage, ayant une marge de manoeuvre suffisante pour agir en toute indépendance, faisant d’eux sur l’échiquier international des interlocuteurs fiables, dignes de confiance.
Si le dessein du communiqué est vriament la sortie de crise, on doit alors s’achemiser dans le sens où le nouveau Gouvernement sera un partenaire efficace, tant des institutions et des organisations publiques et privées nationales que des Etats, des Organisations et des Institutions internationales.
Il ne faut pas que nous oblions que la tendance qui se dessine est de faire, plus tard, du Gouvernement une Institution constitutionnelle.
Aujourd’hui nous luttons contre le Pouvoir exhorbitant du Président de la République, nous lui créont des limites. Je ne crois pas qu’il s’agisse de l’anéantir. Aussi, j’estime que le Gouvernement, dans le futur, aura une existence constitutionnelle, c’est à dire une existence réglée par la ”vox populi” que représente la constitution.
Aussi, il convient de ne pas occulter que nous préparons une cohabitation qui ne sera pas exempte de conflit au sein de l’exécutif qui comprendra le President, d’un côté, et le Gouvernement, de l’autre.
Ce bicéphalisme de l’exécutif doit nous préoccuper, puisqu’il peut être source de paralysie. Nous avons l’exemple français Mittérand-Chirac, Mittérand-Balladur; plus près de nous l’exemple ivoirien.
A plus forte raison, si ce Premier Ministre doit encore, pour constituer un Gouvernement doit se préoccuper d’être approuvé par ”différents acteurs”qu’il devra consulter.
En l’état actuel, la personnalité qui sera choisie devra, à tout le moins, jouir d’une autonomie psychologique nourricière de sa sérénité dans l’accomplissement de sa mission.
Ce point du Communiqué doit être reconsidéré.
B - J’en viens à une autre question épineuse, celle de l’enquête à mener.
A mon humble avis, une commission d’enquête est inefficiente. Il vaut mieux que les personnes victimes, par l’organe d’avocats, engagent des poursuites, soit contre personne dénommée, soit contre x. Que l’information judiciaire soit diligentée par le juge d’instruction avec la présence constante des avocats à toutes les phases jusqu’au jugement.
Une telle procédure aura deux avantages:
les garanties légales contenues dans la loi fondamentale, les lois organiques sur l’indépendances de la magistrature et la récente loi sur l’exercice de la profession d’avocat pourraient être mises en application, de manière effective.
C’est une opportunité à saisir pour faire de l’institution judiciaire un organe de défense et de respect des droits de l’homme. Jamais une occasion aussi féconde ne s’est présentée en Guinée pour établir une collaboration entre la Magistrature et le Barreau en faveur de l’indépendance et de l’impartialité judiciaires.
Le contexte actuel est propice pour faire obstacle aux interférences et ingérances qui ont paralysé, dégradé ou corrompu la justice. Il ne faut pas le laisser passer.
Les commissions d’enquêtes indépendante ou non n’ont jamais donné que des statistiques discutables, elles ont rarement atteint l’objectif d’inéluctabilité du châtiment et de la réparatio du préjudice. Les parties ou leurs représentants n’y jouent aucun rôle.
2. les victimes, leurs parents, leurs représentants ou toute personne intéressée, ayant le droit et l’assistance d’agir directement, tant au déclenchement de l’enquête, à la diligence de la poursuite qu’au règlement judiciaire, auraient le privilège d’être informés ponctuellement. Mais ausssi, la procédure du contradictoire, qui reconnait le droit à la défense, produira en même temps deux effets:
Aucun cas ne sera occulté, aucune responsabilité ne sera dissimulée,
Aucun règlement de compte ne saura prospérer.
Je pense que le Barreau, qui est par son essence un organe indépendant doit et peut jouer le rôle naturel qui est le sien dans la défense et le rétablissement des droits méconnus ou violés.
La mobilisation nationale, afin de faire jouer au barreau et à la Magistrature leur rôle en toute indépendance, à l’abri de la corruption et des ingérance doit nous interpeler tous et c’est le moment et l’occasion.
I am trying to do a story for a labor radio show on a community radio station in Chicago. I was wondering if there is someone who is currently in Guinea, in a neighboring country or in the region, looking at this blog or who has contacts in these places that would be free for a phone interview. I really would looking for someone who could expound more on the issues of labor in the country, who are these unions that have called for the strikes, explain the deal that was reached in January, and the real fuel for this second strike.
Can anyone help me with this?
Stacie Johnson, freelance reporter, Chicago, IL USA
[...] GV author Jen Brea last month put together an excellent overview of the unrest in Guinea. The crisis reached its climax when President Conté declared martial law and deployed government troops with instructions to use armed force to restore order. The ensuing stand-off led to the deaths of more than 110 people, many of them youths and children killed by gunfire on the streets of Conakry. [...]
I am from sierra Leone living in the UK, Lansana Conteh has being in power for very long time, it is better for him to quit and give chance to democracy to prevail. The problem with him is, he want to stay in power till death, this time of politic is totally unacceptable,let him see what had taken place with his neighbours, he really refuse to learn about past history. The up raising gives a clear indication of change, he must accept the peoples power not dictatorship.
Lansana conte must go,step donwn .
conte have to give a chance to guinee for a peaceful transition.
I want to let the world know that this president of the Guinea conakry need to step down from the throne now. I hope to have someone for president who will be able to identify with some laws of america or europe:like only being president for 5yrs or less, giving free speech to citizens of the country so it can be a better understanding of each community and each citizens. In Guinea they have “communes”,”prefectures”,”villes”, for this reason, the president should allow each of these individuals to express their opinions on behalf of the population. Have meetings with each sectors, have a plan, set a goal and then agree for the better things for the country. I am also asking some americans that have money, like Oprah winfrey, Hughs Hefner,Bill Gates, or anybody to help my country come to organization and a better life for ppl living there. I pray for more jobs, open schools, and industries so ppl when students finish school they can have a place to work. I would like someone to have a better trade plan when exploring our precious tresors: bauxite, ore…do a step by step goal and then do exportation with the world so “we” guinean can have some kind of money to support our roads, our buildings, our schools and our electricty.
oh gosh, thats enough, I hope someone reads this.
thank you so much for allowing me to vent.I love my country guinea and I want a better development.
thanks guys
Last year I made comment about Lasana conteh dictatorship in Guinea- Conakry. I invite him to learn about the Political development in Sierra Leone, the people of Sierra Leone have demostrated their democratic right that allowed the rule of law to prevail and people
power. The international Community should not allow this ugly incident to prolong, delay is dangerious, they must act now to save the people of Guinea. he si even proke war between Sierra Leone and Guinea by refusing to hand Yenga to the government of Sierra Leone. Thank God the peole recognised their relationship as one family. He need more presure from the International Commitee.