After the death of the longtime ruler of Guinea, President Lansana Conte in December 2008, the army, led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara seized power in a bloodless coup. Captain Camara assured the people of Guinea, Africa and the world that this take over the government by the army would be a temporary one and while in power he would work towards eventually transferring power back to the people by holding free and fair elections. However, from December 2008 to today, from the scraps of information I have been able to gather, things have not been going according to plan. In my opinion accurate information on what is really going on in this country behind the scenes is very scarce.
There should be no surprise to anyone that Captain Camara has been unable to deliver on his promises and control forces inside his country. Although his promises of ensuring democratic elections were vehemently repeated whenever he made public speeches and there are indications that he made attempts to Sheppard this process, its failure to be organized should not be a shock to anyone.
What needs to be understood I believe is that many times the power dynamics and power distributions in a dictatorship are not seen. President Lansana Conte was indeed the figure head or the most visible profiteer of the corruption that existed in Guinea prior to his death. However, what many times is not seen is that there were (and still are) dozens of powerful individuals in the army, government and sectors of civil society who were equally benefitting from the corruption that existed in Guinea. When President Conte died, all that Captain Camara did was attempt to fill that one void left by Conte but the systematic corruption and misuse of the wealth of the nation was still in place. His attempt, whether it was heart-felt or not I do not know, to bring democracy to the country was doomed to failure because people who were benefitting from the previous system would do all in their power to prevent this from happening.
In September 2009, a month after it was declared that Presidential elections would be held on January 31, 2010, their was a protest held by the citizens of Conakry in a stadium over whispered rumors of Captain Camara’s supposed intention to stay in power contrary to his assurances of the otherwise. Troops were called in to control the fired up crowd and as things got more out of hand soldiers lost their composure it seems and opened fired on the protesting people. According to the Guinean Human Rights Organization, around 157 were killed in the violence and 1200 injured. There were horrible reports of undisciplined soldiers raping women with the barrels of their guns, violent beatings and general uncontrollable suppression by the army of the protesting citizens. This to me was the first indication that Camara did not have full control over his armed forces and even though he might have given indications to suggest otherwise, and many wish to place him as the mastermind behind this disaster, I do not believe this to be the case although accurate information on this is scarce.
However, with the recent assassination attempt by forces within his own army in December 2009, my theory seems to hold same sort of validity. Obviously Captain Camara does not and did not have universal loyalty within his own ranks and whether that is due to the fact that he intended to keep his promise and bring free and fair elections to the country or because somebody else wished to be the “big man in charge” again we do not know. But little bits of information are beginning to add up and all that I wish to say is that we need to start looking at the people in the shadows behind the men in power because they have their own agendas and methods of trying to achieve power.
All in all, it is a sad event that is taking place in Guinea. The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) as is typical with the regional organizations of Africa didn’t do much to help the situation except to issue a rebuke and suspended them from membership wish doesn’t do much in my opinion. In addition to this, the French made many tough declarations on how corruption and dictatorships in Africa, especially their former colonies would not be tolerated, they have really done nothing substantial to hurt the people who are corrupt in Guinea as they are profiting too from their corruption. The African Union (AU) has also not come out strong enough on this issue as many of its own leaders are also corrupt. Take its Chairman, Col Gaddaffi. I love him to death and think he is one of our great leaders but he is a dictator and is very undemocratic so who is he to presume to come down hard on Guinea (although with Gaddafi I wouldn’t put anything past him)!
In closing, I would like voice my irritation at the International Media always making big issues out of Africa’s failures and downplaying and in many cases flat out ignoring our triumphs. The situation in Guinea, to say the least, is quiet unfortunate. What makes matters worse is that in a year when Namibia, Botswana and South Africa (to name a few) have had smooth, free and fair elections, issues such what is presently occurring in Guinea re-enforce negative stereotypes the world has of Africa. The world sees the chaos, violence and corruption in places such as Guinea, Zimbabwe, and other areas of trouble and these are the stories that get headlines in the major international media outlets. Why is this the case? This discourse needs to change and we as the Africans need to lead this change in perception by always acknowledging our faults, but also promoting our triumphs as well.
