Crackdown on Opposition, Dissent, Media; Delayed Return to Constitutional Rule
- The military authorities in Guinea have cracked down on the opposition, media, and peaceful dissent, and have failed to keep their promises to restore civilian rule by December 2024.
- When Gen. Mamady Doumbouya overthrew his autocratic predecessor, Alpha Condé, he pledged to rebuild the state, respect human rights, and deliver justice. But his government has largely continued killing, intimidating, and silencing critics.
- Guinean authorities should respect people’s right to demonstrate peacefully and express themselves freely; rein in the security forces and hold them to account.
(Nairobi, December 2, 2024) – The military authorities in Guinea have cracked down on the opposition, media, and peaceful dissent since taking power in a September 2021 coup, and have failed to keep their promises to restore civilian rule by December 2024, Human Rights Watch said today.
Security forces have used excessive force, including tear gas and gunfire, to disperse those who defied the ongoing ban on protests imposed in May 2022 by the National Committee for Reconciliation and Development (Comité national du rassemblement et du développement, CNRD), the junta headed by Gen. Mamady Doumbouya. The crackdown has led to the death of dozens of protesters and other residents of Conakry, Guinea’s capital, since January 2024. During the same period, the junta suspended at least six independent media outlets, arbitrarily arrested at least ten journalists, and disappeared and allegedly tortured two prominent political activists.
“When Gen. Mamady Doumbouya overthrew his autocratic predecessor, Alpha Condé, he pledged to rebuild the state, respect human rights, and deliver justice,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Yet for the last two years, his government has largely carried on where Condé left off, killing, intimidating, and silencing critics, and torturing and disappearing those suspected of working with the political opposition.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 30 people in person in Conakry, between September 22 and 28, including representatives of United Nations agencies and the international community, national and international human rights organizations, journalists, members of the political opposition, and victims of human rights abuses, and met with the Guinean minister of justice and human rights. From October 10 to 31, Human Rights Watch also interviewed by telephone 27 witnesses to rights abuses. Human Rights Watch reviewed government statements, and analyzed medical and forensic records, legal documents, photographs, and video footage shared directly with its researchers to corroborate victim and witness accounts.
Human Rights Watch wrote to the justice minister on November 5, sharing research findings and requesting responses to specific questions. The justice minister did not respond to Human Rights Watch.
The National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (Front national pour la défense de la Constitution, FNDC), a prominent coalition of Guinean civil society groups and opposition parties, has been calling for the restoration of democratic rule following the military coup. The coalition and Guinean human rights organizations consulted by Human Rights Watch said that up to 59 people, including at least 5 children, have died during protests since June 2022, mainly in Conakry. Some were protesters, while others were ordinary citizens who found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Human Rights Watch research indicates that security forces used lethal force leading to the deaths of at least nine people, including one woman and four children ages 9 to 17, during protests in Conakry between January and September 2024. Only one of them took part in the protests. Protesters also assaulted the police and gendarmes, throwing rocks and other objects, and blocked roads.
Human Rights Watch has extensively documented that while security force members have allegedly shot and killed dozens of demonstrators since 2019, authorities have consistently failed to investigate deaths and other abuses during political protests and prosecute those allegedly responsible. The recently concluded trial of crimes committed as part of the September 28, 2009, massacre is an important step towards justice. Guinean human rights activists told Human Rights Watch, however, that it is important to ensure that the trial is not a one-time justice effort, but rather the beginning of further investigations and prosecutions for human rights abuses in the country.
Human Rights Watch has also documented enforced disappearances by the junta to silence dissent and the political opposition. On July 9, Guinean security forces allegedly tortured and forcibly disappeared Oumar Sylla, known as Foniké Menguè, and Mamadou Billo Bah, two prominent opposition members. Authorities have not acknowledged their detention or responded to their lawyer’s requests for their whereabouts.
The military authorities have jammed and suspended media outlets, threatened, and arbitrarily arrested journalists.
On September 18, the foreign affairs minister, Morissanda Kouyaté, announced that, contrary to a 24-month transition timetable agreed between the junta and the regional bloc of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in December 2022, the presidential election would not take place at the end of 2024, but in 2025. Kouyaté confirmed that a referendum to adopt a new Constitution to replace the transitional charter and potentially pave the way for Doumbouya’s participation in the presidential election would still be held at the end of 2024. However, at the time of publication, no date had yet been set for the promised referendum. Several CNRD members, including its spokesperson, Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, have publicly expressed their support for Doumbouya to run for president in the next election.
Members of the opposition and civil society have raised concerns about the absence of a clear electoral timeline and breaches of the transitional charter. On November 12, a coalition of Guinean opposition groups and civil society organizations, known as Living Forces of Guinea (Forces Vives de Guinée, FVG), called on the junta to leave by January 1, 2025, and for the return to constitutional rule.
A civil society activist told Human Rights Watch in September that “the junta’s increasing intolerance for the opposition and its broken promises to organize free and fair elections before the end of the year are a recipe for disaster,” and that “the government should stop the repression or risk escalating an already tense political environment, leading to violence.”
On October 29, the territorial administration and decentralization minister dissolved 53 political parties, suspended 54 others for 3 months, and placed 67 more under observation, giving them 3 months to provide the ministry with required information. The decision came after the publication of a “political parties’ evaluation” report by the minister citing non-compliance with the law, including parties’ lack of valid licenses and transparent financial accounts.
Among the parties under observation are three prominent opposition parties, including the Rally of the Guinean People (Rassemblement du peuple de Guinée, RPG) headed by former president Condé, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (Union des Forces Démocratiques de Guinée, UFDG) headed by Cellou Dalein Diallo, and the Union of republican forces (Union des forces républicaines, UFR) headed by former Prime Minister Sidya Touré. The opposition contends that the decision aims at excluding key political figures from the elections.
As Guinea is a party to the African Union Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the authorities should cease targeting opposition politicians and civil society activists, and ensure a swift return to democratic rule, Human Rights Watch said.
The Guidelines for the Policing of Assemblies by Law Enforcement Officials in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials provide that law enforcement officers may use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required to achieve a legitimate policing objective.
“As the transition period comes to an end and the risk of unrest grows, Guinean authorities should respect people’s right to demonstrate peacefully and express themselves freely,” Allegrozzi said. “They should also rein in the security forces, investigate those implicated in present and past abuses, and hold them to account, while political leaders should instruct their supporters to refrain from using violence.”
For further details and accounts from witnesses, please see below.
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Guinea, please visit:
https://www.hrw.org/africa/guinea