It is an uncertain calm that prevails in Guinea the day after Cenis’ proclamation of the preliminary results of the presidential election. The outgoing president, Alpha Condé, was re-elected with more than 59% of the vote. Cellou Dalein Diallo, leader and candidate of the UFDG, credited by Ceni with 33.5% of the vote, condemned “a freedom of choice”. He intends to challenge them by seeing the courts, but also on the streets.
With our correspondents in Conakry, Carol Valade and Charlotte Idrac
After the new tensions and violence that took place on Saturday in the country, in the upper suburbs of Conakry, “the night became long and agitated by sporadic shootings and fear of a stray bullet …”, testifies a resident of Nongo.
Not far away, in the Cosa district, an insecure calm reigns. Shots fired again, but no collision reported. Defense and security forces are present in numbers. Many shops and markets are closed, such as On the side of Lambanyi, where shops were attacked and clashes broke out between communities that reportedly left several people wounded by the stabbing. Same scenario in Dar es Salaam, where residents accuse the police of taking sides.
Tranquility is also uncertain in the region of Upper Guinea, where recent days have been violent. In Nzérékoré in the south of the country, a few sporadic gatherings were quickly dispersed by the defense and security forces.
It is difficult to get a reliable assessment of this violence after the election. The two camps accuse each other of being at the origin. One thing is for sure, there are children among the victims. Unicef in Guinea says it is “deeply concerned” about the violence and calls on all parties to “ensure the safety and protection of children”.
On Saturday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched an appeal for a peaceful solution through dialogue on this new electoral conflict in Guinea. Transmitters from the UN, the African Union and Cédeao are also announced in Conakry for a joint preventive diplomatic mission.
Severely disrupted social networks and internet
The internet and social networks have been severely disrupted in recent days in Guinea. The Post and Telecommunications Authority (ARPT) admits and justifies blocking certain social networks. And it is on the social network Twitter precisely that the Deputy Director General of ARTP gave some explanations.
“A social network surveillance system has been set up by limiting their bandwidth to intensify our fight against online hatred and incitement to ethnic confrontation during this period of tension. We must take our responsibility to live together. This is not a total cut off of the Internet, although it is true that one of the players encounters technical problems setting up the device, ”wrote Mami Diaby, head of ARPT.
For his part, Alpha Diallo, president of the Association of Bloggers in Guinea (Ablogui), says he is “very surprised” by this justification, which he considers “unacceptable”. For him, the Deputy Director-General of ARPT recognizes the “creation of a censorship system”. He asks what legal provisions this restriction is based on. For the President of Ablogui, the operator Orange Guinea is not responsible for the disturbances.
After testing, it was still impossible to connect to the Internet on mobile via this Orange Guinea network early Sunday afternoon. The disturbances began Thursday night and yesterday Saturday when the overall preliminary results were announced by the Election Commission. It was then that the network also seems to be deteriorating at other carriers like MTN, which has since been available again. However, international calls to Guinea via Orange are working again.
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