Guinea's opposition publishes names of fatalities from electoral violence

Guinea's main oppositon party published Friday a list of 46 people, aged between 3 and 70 years, killed during the repression of demonstrations after the October 18 election, officially won by the incumbent Alpha Condé.

Condé was declared re-elected on October 24 by the Electoral Commission for a controversial third term with 59.5% of the vote, but three of his opponents, including opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, are contesting the results before the Constitutional Court, whose decision is expected on Saturday.

Diallo's party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), denounced in a statement a "wave of terror" orchestrated by the government between October 19 and November 3.

"The provisional toll of this repression is 46 dead, nearly 200 wounded by gunfire, about a hundred arrests and extensive material damage," according to the UFDG.

The opposition has so far reported a death toll of at least 27, while for the government, the post-election violence resulted in 21 deaths, including members of the security forces.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Africa Officer Ida Sawyer on Twitter on October 24 accused Guinean security forces of killing "at least 8 people, including 3 children.

Amnesty International for its part accused the same security forces of firing live ammunition at demonstrators, without giving a detailed account.

The Ministries of Security and Territorial Administration did not immediately respond to the multiple requests for a reaction from the AFP to the UFDG document.

This document includes a list of names, usually with age, profession, circumstances of death, contacts of a relative, and photos showing these people, dead or alive. In about fifteen cases, these are photos of bodies showing traces of violence.

Most of the presumed victims are young men and women between 15 and 30 years old: motorcycle cab drivers, mechanics, students...

The youngest are a boy and a girl of 3 years old, Mamadou Midiaou Diallo and Mariatou Bah, and the oldest Mamouna Camara, a housewife of 70 years old.

The UFDG also states that "the overwhelming majority of the victims (...) belong to the same ethnic group as the opposition leader," in a country where community affiliations play an important role in elections.