At least 56 people were killed on Sunday 1is December, in the south-east of Guinea in “deadly stampedes” following protests by supporters of refereeing decisions during a football match, the government indicated on Monday December 2 in a press release. However, according to a doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity to theAFP, “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,” he said. “There are dozens of deaths,” another doctor said.
In videos broadcast on social networks and includingAFP could not verify the authenticity, we see many inert bodies. Other videos circulating show scenes of great confusion in the streets following the outbreak of clashes.
What happened?
The circumstances of the clashes remain unclear. But “it all started with a challenge to a decision by the referee. Supporters then invaded the playing area,” said to theAFP a witness 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.
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 Mr. 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 authorities indicated at the end of September that all the votes leading to the return of constitutional order would be held in 2025. They presented a preliminary draft constitution at the end of July with the objective of having it voted on by referendum before the end of the 'year. But no date has yet been set for submitting to the population this text rejected by the main opposition parties and civil society organizations.
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.
“The government is monitoring the evolution of the situation”
The head of the military-dominated government in Guinea, Amadou Oury Bah, spoke on Monday. He “deplored” the clashes and called for calm. “The government deplores the incidents which marred the football match between the teams of Labé and N'Zérékoré, he says on his page Facebook. The government is monitoring developments in the situation and reiterates its call for calm so that hospital services are not hampered in providing first aid to the injured. he added, without providing details on the number of victims.
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“During the stampede, victims were recorded,” is content to say the Prime Minister who promises a press release “ as soon as he (the government) will have collected all relevant information on these unfortunate incidents.
