21 December 2009 - 17H26 - Bernard Kouchner - Guinea Conakry - Moussa Dadis Camara

Stadium massacre a 'crime against humanity', says UN  

By News Wires (text)

AFP - Killings of anti-government protesters perpetrated by Guinean security forces in Conakry in late September amount to "crimes against humanity," according to a report by a UN inquiry panel released Monday.

The commission said it was able to confirm the identity of 156 people killed or missing and said at least 109 women were subjected to "rapes and other sexual violence, including sexual mutilations and sexual slavery."

"It is reasonable to conclude that the crimes perpetrated on September 28 and the following days can be described as "crimes against humanity," it noted.

It was referring to the attack by forces loyal to military junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara on an opposition protest that had gathered in a stadium in the capital Conakry.

The panel said the number of "victims of all those violations is probably higher" as Guinea's ruling junta moved to destroy evidence of the crimes committed in the Conakry stadium, including removal of bodies, burial in mass graves, denial of medical care to the victims and military takeover of hospitals and morgues.

The report said that there were reasonable grounds to presume that Camara, his aide de camp Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite and major Moussa Tieggboro Camara, the minister in charge of special services and the fight against drug trafficking, should be personally held to account before international justice.

Diakite allegedly tried to fatally shoot Camara in an attack early this month, after which the junta leader was flown to Morocco for medical treatment.

Camara took power in Guinea in December last year in a military putsch carried out in the wake of president Lansana Conte's death.

His unstable regime has not been recognized by the African Union, nor by the rest of the international community, and his plan to seek election as a civilian leader in upcoming elections was greeted with protests.

The UN panel, which was created late October, meanwhile recommended that the UN Security Council be seized with the situation in Guinea and that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees set up an office there at least for next year.

It also enjoins the Guinean government to provide families of victims with all relevant information on the case of the missing, to ask the International Criminal Court to investigate presumed crimes against humanity, to provide adequate compensation to the victims and to impose targeted sanctions against the main perpetrators of these violations."

30 December 2009 - 08H59 - Guinea Conakry - Moussa Dadis Camara

'Nothing more to be done' for injured Junta leader, says govt source 

By News Wires (text)

AFP - Guinea's interim leader General Sekouba Konate visited the country's injured junta chief in Morocco Tuesday and afterwards said Captain Moussa Dadis Camara did not appear aware of his surroundings, a junta source told AFP.

Konate visited Camara for the first time in the Moroccan hospital where he is being treated after being shot in the head by his aide de camp on December 3.

The interim leader made no official comment after meeting Camara but according to a source close to the junta, Konate said: "Dadis was not aware of what was happening around him."

Konate also said of the wounded junta leader there was "nothing more to be done for him," according to the junta source, who requested anonymity.

Camara's condition since being shot has been a source of much speculation.

Guinea's official media has reported that Camara is recovering and will return to the west African country as soon as possible. Camara himself has not made any public statements or appearances since the attack.

Konate, also defence minister, had several times postponed the visit to Morocco, where Camara was flown for medical care after being shot by his aide de camp, Lieutenant Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite, who is now in hiding.

Konate took charge of Guinea after Camara was wounded, which was more than two months after junta soldiers killed scores of opposition protesters in a massacre that has drawn fierce international criticism.

Human rights groups and the United Nations put the death toll at the Conakry stadium opposition rally at more than 150, with hundreds injured, including women who were raped by troops.

Guinea has been suspended from the regional Economic Community of West African States and has lost development aid from the European Union.

Camara came to power on December 23 last year within hours of the death of longtime strongman Lansana Conte, a former general who had ruled the country since 1984.

Sad thing is nobody cares unless they're sitting on a natural resource. How many people do you know personally who can find Guinea on a map?

"zombieslayer" wrote:

"zombieslayer" wrote:

Sad thing is nobody cares unless they're sitting on a natural resource. How many people do you know personally who can find Guinea on a map?

"zombieslayer" wrote:

If the knowledge of where countries are on a map will help me feed, clothe, and keep a roof over my families head, then enlighten me. Until then, please don't glorify the 'education' of useless trivia. Thanks. =)

EDIT: I don't mean to sound like a dick.. I'm just sick of the world's view on how uncultured/ignorant Americans are because we don't care to know pointless information.

Even Einstein ripped on the collection of trival information..

"Formo" wrote:

"Formo" wrote:

I know you didn't say that outright. But the implication was still there. I'm sure you didn't mean it the way I took it.

My point still stands.. knowledge is overrated.

"Formo" wrote: