Guinea Junta Blocks Protests Planned by Pro-Democracy Activists
(Bloomberg) -- Guinea’s junta has blocked a series of protests planned by pro-democracy groups after some media organizations were forced to shut and two activists went missing.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Luxury Heir Alleges His $13 Billion Hermès Fortune Has Vanished
Rich Hong Kong Families Sell Mansions at Discounts to Repay Debt
Venezuela’s Opposition Disputes Claim of Maduro Election Victory
Harris’ Running-Mate Search Zeroes In on Three Top Contenders
Tesla Analyst Nearly Crashes While Using ‘Full Self-Driving’
An alliance of civil-society organizations in the West African nation mobilized citizens to hit the streets of Conakry, the capital, for three days starting on Tuesday. However, city Governor M’Mahawa Sylla said the demonstrations contravene existing administrative and security measures that the junta has taken.
“These prohibition provisions are and remain in force due to the existing risk of serious disturbances to public order,” Sylla said in a statement read on national broadcaster Radio Television Guineenne.
A prosecutor in the court of appeal, Fallou Doumbouya, also warned criminal proceedings would be opened against the organizers if they don’t comply with the ban.
The protests are mainly aimed at pressurizing the junta to reveal the whereabouts of Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Billo Bah, two pro-democracy activists who disappeared July 9, said Lancinet Keita, head of mobilization of the Dynamics of Civil Society Organizations in Guinea. The group believes that the two men are in security forces’ custody, he said.
The military government, which denied arresting the activists last week, said security forces and the justice system were looking for the men.
The two activists mobilized people through social media to back their call for elections and to protest high living costs as well as the junta’s intimidation of the media. The gatherings from tomorrow were going to be used to reiterate demands for better living conditions and reopening of radio and television stations that the junta has shut, Keita said.
Ecowas Deadline
The developments come as the timeline agreed between the junta and regional bloc Economic Community of West African States to return the country to democracy comes to an end this year.
A year after seizing power in 2021, then-army colonel Mamadi Doumbouya —who was elevated to general this year — reached a two-year transition pact with Ecowas for the country to hold elections and return to civilian rule.
There’s no definite timetable for the polls, Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, a spokesman for the government, said last week.
“We have objectives broken down into three sections, namely social, economic and political,” he said. “If they are reached, the transition will end.”
Guinea is the world’s top exporter of bauxite. The country also has the world’s largest untapped deposit of iron ore, which companies including Rio Tinto Plc say will begin shipping by 2026.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
