Guinea may be poised for wildcat anti-junta protests by pro-democracy activists under the banner of the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC) who have vowed to take to the streets demanding the release of their incarcerated leaders.
In the lead up to the planned demonstrations on Thursday, Guinea appears heading for eventful days as the FNDC issues a statement calling on all patriotic citizens to answer their call to a ”sacred civic duty” aimed at saving democracy from the ”choking clutches of so-called anti democratic forces.
The FNDC say they “will organise a peaceful citizen’s demonstration next Thursday in Greater Conakry” in accordance with Articles 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 34 and 8, paragraph 2 of the Guinean Transitional Charter.
The citizen’s movement is demanding that its demands, in particular “the unconditional release” of its national coordinator Oumar Sylla known as Foniké Mengué and its heads of operations and branches, Ibrahima Diallo and Billo Bah, as well as “all political leaders, opinion leaders and pro-democracy activists unjustly arrested and incarcerated in the interior of the country”.
The movement is also keen to put an end to what it considers the “harassment and whimsical prosecutions against social and political actors opposed to the conduct of the current transition.”
The Guinean activists also demand “the immediate lifting of the ban on demonstrations in the streets and public places throughout the country”.
Their demands include “the establishment of a framework for fruitful dialogue” under the stewardship of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), bringing together the National Committee for Rally and Development (CNRD), the ruling junta, the government, the National Transitional Council (CNT), political parties and representatives of civil society in the presence of ambassadors of the world’s major powers.
Since last May, Guinea’s military authorities had banned public demonstrations.
In August, they dissolved the FNDC, accused its members of engaging in “violence, degradation and destruction of public and private property, acts of incitement to hatred or discrimination against people because of their origin or ideology.”
Demonstrations organised under the CNRD regime were violently suppressed as security forces shot dead at least eight protesters, according to the organisers.
ASD/ac/lb/as/APA