In Guinea, a football match turns into fistfights, dozens dead

GUINEA – The spirit of sport. Clashes on Sunday between supporters during a football match left at least dozens dead in N'Zérékoré, in southeastern Guinea, medical sources told AFP.

“There are around a hundred dead. Bodies are lined up as far as the eye can see in the hospital. Others are lying on the floor in the corridors. The morgue is full”a doctor from the regional hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. “There are dozens of deaths”said another doctor. Angry supporters vandalized and set fire to the N'Zérékoré police station, according to witnesses. The government remained silent on Sunday evening about the tragedy.

Tournament in support of the head of the junta

In videos broadcast on social networks and whose authenticity AFP was unable to verify, we see numerous inert bodies. Other videos circulating on the networks show scenes of great confusion in the streets following the outbreak of clashes.

“It all started from a challenge to a decision by the referee. Supporters then invaded the playing area”a witness told AFP on condition of anonymity for his safety.

According to the press, it was a tournament dedicated to the head of the junta, General Mamadi Doumbouya, who came to power after a coup d'état in September 2021 and who has since become president.

Broken promise

Such tournaments have proliferated in recent weeks in Guinea, in what are seen as events in support of a possible candidacy of Mamadi Doumbouya in the next presidential election.

The junta initially pledged, under international pressure, to give way to elected civilians before the end of 2024. It has since indicated that it would break its promise.

Several of Mamadi Doumbouya's representatives recently said they were in favor of his candidacy in the next presidential election. But the “transition charter” established by the junta shortly after the coup dictates that no member of the junta will be able to run “neither in national elections nor in local elections”.

The junta seeks to silence all forms of dissent, banning demonstrations and critical media. Many opposition leaders have been arrested, indicted before judges or driven into exile. At the beginning of July, two leaders of a dissolved citizens' movement which demanded the return of civilians to power disappeared.

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