Guinean authorities should immediately free all those detained without charge following the bloody crackdown on an opposition rally on September 28, 2009, or charge them with a specific criminal offense followed by a fair trial. Human Rights Watch also supported the call by ECOWAS to establish an international commission of inquiry into the violence, in which an estimated 150 or more demonstrators were killed.

Moussa Dadis Camara said his coup would be different. But as scores of protesters are gunned down, west Africa is in real peril.

Guinean security forces should immediately cease violent attacks on demonstrators protesting against the military government. The government should hold accountable security forces responsible for firing upon and killing dozens of generally peaceful demonstrators in the Guinean capital, Conakry, on September 28, 2009.

Guinea’s coup government should respect the rights of demonstrators and end intimidation and threats against those who express dissent. Opposition politicians and at least one human rights activist who have criticized the presumed candidacy of the coup leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, for the upcoming presidential elections have been threatened in recent days.

United States President Barack Obama should use his visit to Ghana on July 10 and 11, 2009 to encourage its new president, John Atta Mills, to take a leadership position in Africa on issues of democracy and justice.

Respect for human rights by the coup government that took power six months ago has been undermined by arbitrary arrests and detentions, restrictions on political activity, unpunished criminal acts by the military, calls for vigilante justice, and disappointing progress in organizing elections.

Guinean soldiers have been implicated in regular acts of theft and violence against businesspeople and ordinary citizens since a new government took power in a military coup in December 2008. The new government should put a stop to these attacks and make certain that the police, gendarmerie, and judiciary carry out independent investigations and prosecute implicated soldiers.

The African Union (AU) should attach top priority to civilian protection and bringing human rights abusers to justice when it meets for its summit meeting in Ethiopia next week. The AU summit takes place from January 26 to February 3 in Addis Ababa.