Camara runs Guinea into isolation

(Most) probably on January 31 next year Guineans will make use of their democratic right to elect the president they want. Until then Guinea’s citizens will have huge challenges to face. The biggest one: Their “Chief of state”, as Captain Moussa Dadis Camara calls himself.

When he calls himself chief he is responsible for the massacre of Conakry on september 28th. He is giving the guidelines. The bloody actions showed everybody how anxiously he try to keep his position. It also showed us that elections would be anything but fair, when he is one of the candidate.

Increasing foreign interests in Guinea was definitely a major aspect why Camara changed his mind to call out his candidacy for president. Since Camara’s military junta started, France loosed grip on its former colony. Just recently Guinea signed a contract with China & Russia, which plan to build a $1 billion hydroelectric dam in Guinea … in exchange: China will receive the right to mine bauxite.

The West-African country is the worlds largest exporter of bauxite, the ore that is used to produce aluminium. And it has even more resource-potential: Gold, diamonds, uranium and new surveys show that there are big deposits of oil at Guineas coast, able to provide 30% of US-requirements of a decade.

Camara and the whole military elite dont want to lose control, because they have a lot to l$$se. The commission which was just installed, to investigate what happened in Conakry on 28/09, should ease international pressure. Its is right that opposition condemned this “false” move. But the opposition should agree talking to Camara in Ouagadougou with the Burkinabe-President, Compaoré. There they would have to opportunity to speak united on an international stage. It is somehow strange that the mediator is a leader, who put himself to power through a bloody coup-d’etat in October 1987. Compaoré calls the death of his predecessor Thomas Sankara, a “accident” … this description reminds me on Camara talking about 28/09.

The opposition knows that Camara must step down, his ties to the military are too strong. A presidential candidate with the back-up of the military would be a horror for the presidential campaign. Now the “Forces Vives de la Nation“, as the opposition calls itself, must show how united and willing they are. They are the decisive players, at the moment.

The situation in Conakry remains tense …