Today, residents of Conakry erected barricades to protest the appointment to the prime ministership of Eugene Camara, a close ally of head of state Gen. Lansana Conté.
At least eight protesters were shot dead (12 according to AFP) by insecurity forces, several in the western city of Kindia.
A soldier was burned alive by a mob in the northeastern city of Kankan.
Several major airlines have cancelled flights to Conakry.
One high ranking government official warned that, "We risk having to declare a state of emergency because the situation has virtually turned into an insurrection."
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The Aéroports de Paris website confirms the flight news. It shows two flights scheduled to arrive from Conakry to Charles de Gaule on 11/02/2007. Air France (AF767) and Delta Airlines (DL8605) - which might actually be the same plane. Anyway, the status of both is "annulé" (ie cancelled). See here.
Good. Thank God, actually, that the rest of the world is effectively boycotting, striking too. HOPEFULLY he'll respond by conceding, rather than clinging to power with an ever tighter fist.
Why the hell isn't any country (France?) brokering a deal with Conte to provide for his security and comfort the rest of his days in exchange for him facilitating a peaceful transference of power?
JT
Didn't ECOWAS try to send Wade and Obansanjo in earlier to try and broker a deal during the strike? I don't think anything came of it. As regards why France isn't doing anything, maybe they just aren't interested? Guinea hardly registers on most people's radars.
I've heard that in the Ivory Coast any light skinned people are immediately tagged as French and are mistrusted, hated, or worse. France's involvement in their problems more or less generated this kind of view. Perhaps France wants to avoid this kind of situation in Guinea.
I guess it is also questionable if France would take the 'right' side. After all, didn't they have considerable involvement with the Hutus in Rwanda? I don't think the French were terribly loved in Guinea - at least, not by the Guineans I met (on the other hand, I'm not sure the Siguirika liked anyone, really).
p.s. Hi Smatt!
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