Guinea: Three days before legislative elections, the government deploys police to Conakry

French Translation of the Week

After two days of violence in the suburbs of Conakry, the police were deployed on Tuesday on the main traffic arteries of the city and crossing through neighborhoods notorious for being centers of the opposition.  These clashes that preceded the legislative elections to be held on September 28 have already resulted in at least one death and several more injured.

Après deux jours de violence dans la banlieue de Conakry, les forces de l'ordre  se sont déployées, mardi, sur les principales artères traversant des quartiers  réputés comme des fiefs de l'opposition. Les affrontements qui précèdent les  élections législatives prévues le 28 septembre ont déjà faits au moins un mort  et de nombreux blessés.

This article has been translated from French. Click here to read the original version on Jeune Afrique.

The situation in Conakry is explosive, only a few days before the legislative elections are scheduled on September 28.  On Tuesday, September 25, the police were deployed in the main streets of the suburbs of Conakry, crossing through areas that are considered hubs for the opposition, namely Hamdallaye, Dar-es-Salam, and Bambeto.

But their presence is not especially accepted.  "We are peaceful observers of the situation [but] if the police provoke us or so much as ask us to leave the roadside, the 'mayhem' will resume," affirmed a young Guinean.  "We decided to respect the call to be calm conducted by our president [Cellou] Dalein Diallo," the head of the Union of the Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) and the main opponent of President Alpha Conde, another person mentioned.

Sunday and Monday, the incidents involved supporters of the Gathering of Guinean People (RPG, the party of the president) against members of the UFDG, resulting in one death and more than seventy injured, according to an official report.

The election on September 28, initiatlly scheduled for Tuesday, September 24, had been postponed following negotiations between the party in power and the opposition under the authority of the international community.  The opposition demanded a reform on the electoral registration and redistricting in order to reduce the number of registered voters to a maximum of 500 per voting location.  It is suspected that the National independent voting commission (Ceni) is close to power and is easily manipulated, so that falsifying the votes to favor the majority and disadvantage the areas densely populated by the opposition is feasible.

Article translated by Allie Stauss, Staff Intern for the Program on Leadership and Building State Capacity at the Wilson Center.

Photo attributed to Newshopper on Flickr Commons.