DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Elite soldiers in junta-ruled Guinea are taking advantage of an anti-corruption drive to rob, extort and beat intimidated civilians in the West African nation with impunity, an international human rights group said Monday.
Human Rights Watch said it was unclear whether the abuses were ordered or sanctioned by senior military officials, and the junta did not immediately comment.
Guinea's self-proclaimed president, Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, seized power in December after the death of longtime dictator Lansana Conte. Camara suspended the constitution, but has since launched an anti-corruption crackdown and publicly interrogated top officials of the former regime accused of drug trafficking and graft.
The coup, however, "seems to have opened up a rash of abuses by the military," said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher for the New York-headquartered rights group.
Human Rights Watch gathered testimony from victims and witnesses who detailed at least 19 incidents in which armed soldiers in groups of 20 "raided offices, shops, warehouses, medical clinics, and homes."
Often intoxicated and usually wearing red berets belonging to elite security units, the soldiers stole "cars, computers, generators, medicines, jewelry, cash, mobile phones, and large quantities of wholesale and retail merchandise," the group said. The contents of some roadside shops were "emptied into vehicles driven by the military."
Soldiers also threatened and physically assaulted victims, and Human Rights watch documented one rape and several incidents in which "small groups of soldiers interrupted judicial proceedings or threatened lawyers in an apparent attempt to influence the outcome" of court cases.
Some victims have been targeted because they were suspected of involvement in trafficking drugs or counterfeit medicines, but many cases appeared unrelated to the crackdown, the rights group said.
In March, security forces in Camara's own office seized a digital memory card from an Associated Press photographer's camera because they believed he took a picture of a senior official sleeping. The card was never returned.
Victims who lodged complaints to the police have been referred to the military, and at least five victims who lodged complaints with military authorities have been ignored.
"The military's duty is to protect and safeguard the Guinean people, not take advantage of them," said Dufka. "The military should end the abuses and allow the police ... and judiciary to uphold the rule of law."
Guinea is rich in gold, diamonds, iron, timber and has half the world's reserves of bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum. But as its leaders have robbed state coffers for decades, making it one of the world's poorest nations. In 2006, Transparency International rated Guinea Africa's most corrupt country. This info comes from Senegal.
The Best way to summarize this article is to say: Guinea is raiding and really asking for trouble with its nothern neighborgh, Senegal. Also this is not a good turn of events considering that if this continues a war might erupt and since Guinea has such a good amount of resources it would be a bloody war. This could end up with Senegal not existing and Guinea Bissau being surrounded by Guinea (and what once was Senegal) then Guinea just moves inland on Bissau.
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