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Response to the Appointment of a New Prime Minister

On January 27, 2007, in a tripartite agreement signed by the Guinean government, the trade unions that called the strike, and the Guinean Employers’ Association (Conseil National du Patronat),¹⁰⁹ President Conté agreed to delegate powers to a new consensus prime minister, who, for the first time in Guinea’s history, was to be head of government.¹¹⁰ In addition, the government agreed to take measures to reduce the price of rice and fuel; to ban the exportation of food, fishing, forestry, and petrol products; to allow judicial proceedings initiated against those “preying on the national economy” to continue without hindrance; and to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate abuses perpetrated during the strike. In return, the unions suspended the strike, and several weeks of uneasy calm followed as business and activities resumed across the country, and Guineans waited to see whom President Conté would appoint as prime minister, head of government.

The fragile truce would be short-lived. As the days passed, union leaders grew tired of waiting for an appointment and threatened to resume the strike on February 12 if no one was named. On February 9, in place of a “consensus” prime minister, President Conté appointed a longtime member of his cabinet, Eugène Camara, then serving as minister of state for presidential affairs. The appointment was widely perceived to be a betrayal of the agreement Conté had made with the trade unions, and provoked an immediate and violent response by protestors. One demonstrator recounted hearing the announcement:

We had all been waiting for this announcement. But when I heard it, I almost could not believe it because it seemed like such a flagrant violation of the agreement between the unions and the government. This guy had been part of all the financial problems of this government, had been at the heart of the Conté regime for the last ten years. I was beside myself with anger. I turned off the radio and couldn’t listen to the rest. That night, the streets of Conakry filled with protestors. People were screaming, “We don’t want him, he’s Conté’s man,” “The government is a liar,” and “Conté doesn’t give a damn about us!”¹¹¹

Infuriated by the appointment, violent unrest ignited across the country. Human Rights Watch interviewed 36 victims of and witness to the chaos and brutality that took place in the two weeks that followed; a selection of those accounts is provided below.

Almost overnight what had begun as an organized, nationwide strike in mid-January transformed into general insurrection and chaos in which rioters attacked government installations, sacked the private homes of government and military officials (including a house belonging to President Vieira of neighboring Guinea-Bissau), burned tires, and, in at least one neighborhood, exchanged gunfire with security forces.¹¹² In a few neighborhoods, some individuals took advantage of the chaos to rob their fellow citizens at makeshift checkpoints.¹¹³ Rioters raided and ransacked police and gendarmerie stations as well as the private homes of members of the military, seizing scores of arms in the process.¹¹⁴ In the course of one of these raids in Conakry, one soldier was beaten to death. One witness described the chaos in the Conakry neighborhood of Hamdallaye:

That weekend, after the announcement of Eugène Camara, it was really the law of the jungle. Right after the announcement, I went from my house to a nearby gas station and saw youths who were stealing money and phones, and beating citizens. Around 6 p.m. the next day, I saw local youths take a guy out of a BMW and chase him away in the same place. On Monday morning, the population ransacked the home of a colonel in the military who lives in the neighborhood, Colonel Cherif. In ten minutes they had emptied the entire house. According to what Colonel Cherif said later, they took sixteen combat rifles and ammunition. There were three soldiers guarding the house at the time who fled. Two of them escaped, but one of them was caught by the population and killed. They left his naked body in the street. The population then set fire to Colonel Cherif’s house. On the wall surrounding his house, they wrote “Quitte le Pouvoir’’¹¹⁵ and “Fuck Conté.” That day same day, there was an exchange of gunfire between the population and soldiers not far from my house. I don’t know if they used the weapons taken from Colonel Cherif’s house, or guns people already had. I know of several Red Berets who were hit by bullets in my neighborhood, but I don’t know if any of them died. That same day, I also saw a Red Beret squat down, elbow on knee in combat position, fire and hit a boy carrying bread. I think he was twelve or thirteen years old. Most people would flee far off the main road whenever they saw soldiers come, but that kid was unlucky and caught out on the street.¹¹⁶

The unrest ignited by the nomination of Eugène Camara was not limited to Conakry. In the weekend that followed Camara’s nomination, clashes between civilians and security forces were reported across the country in prefectoral capitals such as Kankan, Kissidougou, Faranah, Labé, N’zérékoré, and Kindia. In Kankan, rioters reportedly attacked the city jail and released prisoners¹¹⁷ and one soldier was reportedly lynched by a mob after he fired on demonstrators, killing two.¹¹⁸ In Kindia, according to reports, protestors ransacked the local governor's office and security forces then fired upon the crowd, killing as many as seven people.¹¹⁹ In all, at least 22 civilians were killed in days immediately following the appointment of Eugène Camara.¹²⁰

In a communiqué, the National Council of Guinean Civil Society Organizations (CNOSCG) condemned the violence and destruction caused by the rioters. In a separate statement, the trade unions called for resumption of the strike starting Monday, February 12. However, it appeared that the unions and civil society were no longer able to control the masses of angry youth. When asked why the rioters did not wait for the trade unions to reactivate the strike and organize a peaceful protest, resorting instead to spontaneous violence and destruction of property, one individual told Human Rights Watch, “The population had gotten ahead of the unions. We weren’t following them anymore. Rather, it was for them to follow us. And we didn’t need the word of the unions to know that Eugène Camara was not acceptable.”¹²¹ On Sunday February 11, an anonymous SMS message was widely circulated from cell phone to cell phone:

The final assault begins tomorrow until the fall of the general. All together. The strategy is to march without vandalism. But wherever the military kills someone, look around there and ransack homes of military families. Send this message to others. Thank you.¹²²

On Monday, February 12, youths from Hamdallaye, Bambeto, and other neighborhoods in Conakry’s suburbs mobilized with the intention of marching towards the city center. Along the way they threw rocks and clashed with members of the security forces, including police and the military. After nearing the roundabout of Hamdallaye, around which there was a heavy presence of security forces, they were dispersed by security forces who fired tear gas and shot into the air, before turning their guns on the crowd. Victims and witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch described the deaths of several marchers during the course of these events. One witness who participated in the march described the events of that day:

We were thousands on the road that day—people were coming from all over. The youths at the front of the march were armed with rocks, but nothing else. When we got into Hamdallaye, the youths started throwing rocks at the police and soldiers, who started firing tear gas and shooting in the air in return. I saw about fifty armed men; police in black uniform, army in camouflage and about fifteen to twenty Red Berets. They were all working together to stop the youths from advancing. The youths and security forces clashed there for about one hour—the tear gas didn’t really bother us because we had cloths soaked and noses packed with gel to absorb the gas. But then, the armed forces started firing into the crowd. When this happened the youths dispersed everywhere to avoid getting shot. I ran into the neighborhood and hid together with about twenty others at the side of a house that was about fifty meters from the main road. We thought we were well hidden and were waiting for things to calm down so we could go back to the road. After about three minutes, we saw a soldier walking into the neighborhood. He was a Red Beret—he was dressed in camouflage and had a red beret. When he saw us he stopped and almost immediately took aim with his gun. As he did this we all bent down. However my friend Thierno was a little slow. I was trying to pull him down. He was right next to me when the Red Beret fired one round hitting him straight in the right side of the head. Thierno’s blood flew all over me. I later had to wash it from my shirt. He died right there.¹²³ 

Some protestors were intercepted before reaching the roundabout of Hamdallaye. One witness told Human Rights Watch that his group was forced to flee before reaching Hamdallaye when a group of Red Berets arrived in a truck and fired into the crowd, killing his 26-year-old friend.¹²⁴