Guinea soldiers raping women go viral via cell phones
Special to USAfricaonline.com and CLASSmagazine, Houston
An ultra disturbing article in The New York Times (October 6, 2009) looks at how military officers in Conakry, Guinea, attacked unarmed demonstrators last week. Their main order of business seemed to be sexually assaulting the group’s women.
Sadly, experts say this is business as usual in Africa. But what is new is that in Guinea, where cell phones are rapidly outnumbering land line phones, the protesters-turned-victims sent out cell phone photos of rapes in progress by uniformed soldiers. The atrocities were broadcast around Guinea, and then around the world—possibly before the violence even ended.
The frantically shot phone pics are getting a lot of attention, and this is a really good thing. Former Guinea prime ministers, François Lonsény Fall and Sidya Touré, both reported witnessing violence towards women at the protest, backing up the cell phone footage. “This time, a new stage has been reached,” said Touré, who was beaten with other demonstrators. “Women as battlefield targets. We could never have imagined that.” He is calling for international intervention. France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, is not extending aid yet, but is at least echoing the call.
This reminds me a lot of the video of Neda being shot during a protest in Iran. If the viral nature of this cell phone footage influences Guinea’s former colonial ruler, France, and the United Nations to act quickly, would that indicate a hopeful trend for the future? Could cellies become a useful tool for oppressed people?
Moussa Dadis Camara, Guinea’s military leader, has apologized for the massacre of almost 160 of the country’s citizens by its own soldiers and police. More than 1300 others were injured. The brutal events have drawn international condemnation. Camara said: “Very frankly speaking, I’m very sorry, very sorry….”Even I, as head of state in this very tense situation, cannot claim to be able to control those elements in the military.”
He authorized two days of national mourning for Wednesday Sept 30, and Thursday October 1, 2009, and has promised an inquiry. However, he warned that “Any mass gatherings which are of a subversive nature are banned.”
Mouctar Diallo, a human rights activist, said on Radio France International
“I saw this myself….They were raping women publicly. Soldiers were shooting everywhere and I saw people fall.”
Guinea’s government has promised an investigation into why members of the military opened fire on an opposition protest killing, by some accounts, more than 150 people. On Tuesday September 29, 2009, Camara made his first public appearance since the brutal crackdown. The military leader Camara seized power in December 2008 following the death of the long-ruling president Lansana Conte.
