GUINEA-ELECTION/VIOLENCE Pre-election clash in Guinea capital kills two, wounds 33

Record ID: 136212

  • Title: GUINEA-ELECTION/VIOLENCE Pre-election clash in Guinea capital kills two, wounds 33
  • Date: 10th October 2015
  • Summary: CONAKRY, GUINEA (OCTOBER 9, 2015) (REUTERS) YOUTHS THROWING ROCKS VARIOUS OF YOUTHS AND SECURITY FORCES GATHERING NEAR THE PRIVATE HOME OF OPPOSITION LEADER CELLOU DALEIN DIALLO RIOT POLICE WALKING IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNIDENTIFIED OPPOSITION SUPPORTER, SAYING: "They paid the RPG (Rally of the Guinean People party) supporters 10 million CFA (1,400 USD) to come an
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Guinea
  • Country: Guinea
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABJHTYKT634KDULIV0BZXTUZAR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Two people were killed and at least 33 were wounded in Guinea on Friday (October 9) in clashes between supporters of President Alpha Conde and his main rival before Sunday's (October 11) election, witnesses and a senior police source said.
    Shots were fired, security forces fired teargas and wielded batons outside the house of Conde's rival, Cellou Dalein Diallo, in the capital, while activists armed with stones and clubs roamed the streets, reducing traffic to a minimum, they said.
    Eighteen of those wounded were members of the security forces, state television said. There were also clashes in Kerouane and Kissidougou in the southeast of the country, a government source said.
    It was not immediately clear what triggered the clashes.
    "They paid the RPG (Rally of the Guinean People party) supporters 10 million CFA (1,400 USD) to come and attack the private home of El Hadj Cellou, the great Koin leader. This time around, we will not let them. The international community and ambassadors must be informed. If they start to mess with the UFDG (Union of the Democratic Forces of Guinea) we can do it too. In 2015, it's Cellou or death," said an unidentified opposition supporter.
    The West African country has a history of election violence, and Conde earlier cancelled his last campaign rally due to security concerns, after clashes on Thursday that left at least one dead and 20 injured.
    "I was on my way to work when all of this happened. I was shot in the foot so I had to come here to get help," said Conakry resident Mamadou Aliou Diallo, who was injured in Friday's clashes.
    "It's Cellou's people who attacked me. A big guy hit me while I was on my motorcycle. When I fell off, they rushed towards me. I barely escaped with my life," said another Conakry resident, Aboubakar Conde.
    Conde on Thursday (October 8) rejected a demand by opposition candidates to postpone the vote to allow time to rectify what they said were irregularities in the process.
    Late on Friday, the constitutional court, which is the election's highest authority, also rejected a request by seven opposition leaders who had argued that the election should be postponed by at least a week to rectify irregularities.
    Conde is the favourite to win a second term after his election in 2010 ended two years of brutal military rule. Since then, Guinea has been battered by the Ebola epidemic and a slump in global commodities prices that has hit its exports of bauxite.
    The president suspended an auction for the right to develop half of Simandou, the world's biggest untapped iron ore deposit, already running well behind a timetable indicated earlier this year by the country's mines minister.
    Conde gave no reason for the decision, though some analysts say a steep drop in iron ore prices and lawsuits surrounding the deposit may have diminished investors' appetite for the development.
    Analysts predict disputes over the election preparations and the eventual results may ignite ethnic violence between the two groups of supporters.
    Burned shops and cars dotted one Conakry thoroughfare, and Conde supporters sang songs on street corners.
    "Don't attack anybody but if you are attacked, defend yourself," Diallo said on local radio.
    As the tension mounted, Mohammed Ibn Chambas of Ghana, special representative of the United Nations Secretary General, met Diallo, a witness said.
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