The government in Conakry has strongly rejected a report by Amnesty International on the human rights situation in Guinea, on the grounds that its contents had been “insufficiently verified and cross-checked.”
By Sadjo Diallo
“This alternative report contradicts the one developed by the Guinean authorities to be presented to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)” government spokesman Aboubacar Sylla said after emerging from a cabinet meeting on Thursday evening.
According to Sylla, Amnesty International’s report “deliberately ignores the efforts and significant progress made in consolidating the rule of law and improving the conduct of security forces in maintaining order.”
The report Sylla said, “does not mention the particular difficulties that complicate judicial procedures, such as the violent and chaotic nature of certain demonstrations, the immediate disorder of the crime scene and the lack of trust between certain populations and law enforcement personnel”.
He added: “By only referring superficially to the efforts made in the legal and regulatory framework (adoption of a new Penal Code, quartering the military in barracks, formal use of conventional law enforcement equipment, searches of police and gendarmes before any operation to ensure the non-wearing of lethal weapons, etc …), the NGO would like to accredit the idea of a total lack of political will on the part of the authorities to improve the situation of human rights in Guinea”.
Entitled “Guinea: The red flags as the 2020 presidential election draws near,” Amnesty International reports that since January 2015, at least 70 protesters and bystanders have been killed, while 109 people had died in detention and journalists were targeted.
Grouped under the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), the opposition and several civil society groups regularly stage marches and meetings to oppose the holding of a referendum whose objective, according to them, is to pave the way for incumbent President Alpha Conde to seek a third term.
SD/cat/fss/as/APA