12 Feb 2007: ISS Today: Guinea Unions Call for New Strike, Demand President Step Down

12 February 2007: Guinea Unions Call For New Strike, Demand President Step Down
Paul Fournier, Associated Press

 

Union leaders called for Guineans to go back on strike Monday to demand President Lansana Conte step down after he sidestepped a power-sharing agreement, after a day of protests that left at least 11 dead, according to hospital officials and witnesses. Opposition leaders said they had reports of at least 30 dead in the anti-government rioting Saturday. Sporadic gunfire could be heard in some neighborhoods on the outskirts of the capital Sunday afternoon. Downtown was calm, with even the smallest corner shops closed and few cars or people on the street. A two-week national strike last month brought Guinea to an economic standstill and quickly spiraled into protests that triggered clashes with security forces which left at least 59 people dead. Union leaders ended that strike after Conte agreed to appoint a consensus prime minister. But street fighting broke out again Saturday after Conte named an ally in his Cabinet to the post.

 

Commentary

 

When, on 26 January, an agreement was signed between representatives of President Lansana Conté, other state functionaries, and leaders of trades unions and opposition groups, it seemed possible that Guinea might be able to avoid a descent into chaos (see ISS Today 31 January 2007). A peaceful outcome now seems far less probable, as President Conté having procrastinated dangerously before fulfilling his promise to appoint a prime minister, appears to have violated the accord in letter and in spirit by choosing Eugene Camara to fill the post.

 

Until these latest developments, Camara was minister of presidential affairs, a post he had held only since mid-January, when the president had sacked Fodé Bangoura in a vain attempt to ward off popular discontent. Camara had been minister of higher education from 1997 until his appointment as minister of planning in 2004. That he is widely regarded as an honest and decent man in a country whose administration has been pilloried as one of the most corrupt on the planet is not to the point. Not only is Camara seen as being too conciliatory to take on the difficult new role, but he has been consistently loyal and close to President Conté, which is not what the opposition had in mind from the new premier. In addition, Conté would appear to have violated the terms of his peace with the opposition by choosing someone already holding ministerial office.

 

The popular reaction to Camara’s appointment has been one of anger at what is seen as a presidential violation of trust. The calls for Conté’s departure have become more shrill and the death toll from clashes between rioters, demonstrators and the security forces have again begun to mount. Attempts by ECOWAS to mediate in the crisis have met with a firm rebuff from the president’s camp, and of the regional leaders only Guinea-Bissau’s President Nino Vieira, with domestic troubles of his own, remains a staunch ally.

 

Unless there is a sudden and unexpected volte face by the Guinean president, the country faces the prospect of another crippling national strike, which is unlikely to be ended without concessions that amount to a change of regime. Barring this, we will see repression that may well reveal dangerous splits in the military, whose rank-and-file do not share the same enthusiasm for, or benefits from, the current president.

 

Richard Cornwel, African Security Analysis Programme, ISS Tshwane (Pretoria)