Candidates appeal for calm as Guinea runoff vote is put on hold

Guinean leaders appealed for calm Saturday amid reports of further clashes between supporters of the two rival candidates in the country's presidential runoff vote, which has been delayed twice due to simmering ethnic tensions.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - The two candidates in Guinea's presidential election appealed for calm Saturday, asking their followers to avoid ethnic tensions, and the country's transitional president condemned violence after the run-off vote was postponed for the second time.

The separate appeals came after shops owned by the Fula people were looted or destroyed in Conakry, Kankan and Siguiri on Friday and Saturday, according to witnesses.

General Sekouba Konate, appointed nine months ago to guide Guinea to its first free presidential elections, warned late Saturday he would not allow Guineans to "be hunted down because of their ethnic, religious or political background."

Speaking on state television, backed by armed soldiers, Konate condemned violence that had hit "the entire country," adding: "The unity of the nation will be preserved at any price."

As well as the looting of the Fulani shops, clashes were reported between followers of the two candidates in the runoff that should have taken place on Sunday -- Alpha Conde, an ethnic Malinke, and Cellou Dalein Diallo, a Fulani.

"The state will assume all its responsibilities against all troublemakers, it will be zero tolerance for delinquants and those responsible for criminal acts," Konate vowed.

Konate, former defence minister in the junta that took power late in 2008 on the death of longtime leader Lansana Conte, accused the transitional government headed by civilian Jean-Marie Dore of having "done nothing to speed up the electoral process."

Longtime opposition leader Conde, who garnered 18 percent of the vote in the first round, said Saturday: "I am calling on all our activists to remain calm."

"Some are manipulating young people... We will do everything to avoid tensions between ethnic groups," said Conde.

Former prime minister Diallo, who won 43 percent of the vote in the June 27 first round, meanwhile asked his followers "to refrain from revenge attacks to preserve the country's peace and unity."

But he accused security forces of provoking violence, raping and carrying out arbitrary arrests.

"For five days we have seen a crackdown in neighbourhoods known to be Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) strongholds," he said, referring to his own party.

Since the first round, both sides have charged their opponent's supporters with inciting violence and disrupting the organisation of the vote, which aims to return the country to civilian rule after 25 years of military regimes, dictatorship and corruption.

Date created : 24/10/2010

Comments (6)

Guinea election

by Koroma (not verified) - 15/11/2010 - 23:21

Please United Nation,US and EU do something to save the the people of Guinea.Please help the people of Guinea to defend democracy in their land...

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If there is cause to someone, the cause to love has just be

by Bambay Lans Kamara (not verified) - 27/10/2010 - 16:45

Africa, oh Africa, Mama Africa, where are you?
You blessed us with rain, hoping that tears and blood are not to be used to water our crops.
Our bodies, those innocent bodies, are they for fertilizer to nourish wild trees while arable land could not be tilled because the able body now lies beneath it rather than work it.
Day-in-day-day-out we are at the doorsteps of the very stranger we once told, thank you, but no thank you.
We broke chains, we threw stones, bled and cried that we want to be left alone. Then we found out we are lonely without that very stranger we told is against us now he is us but not us and we are not us.
We told him we are also leaders but with tearful eyes we can’t even find us. That same body that once said yes, now says no, no, no, anguished in pain, bleeding tears out of bag of bones, wiped off with leaves and herbs or dirt.
Mama Africa, we are lonely, where are you, the leader, the cradle of civilization, the mother of compassion, the model, ? Mama Africa you said “God is our neighbour when our brother is absent.” You also said, “It is better to walk than curse the road can we learn that “One does not love if one does not accept from others.”
I can hear him echo”
“I left my warm meal and the handling of many disputes.
Wearing nothing more than a pagne for the dewy mornings,
I had only words of peace as protection and to open every
road.
And I too traversed rivers and forests full of dangers
Where vines hung more treacherous than snakes.
I went among people who would easily let fly a poisoned
greeting.
But I held on the sign of recognition
And the spirits watched over my breath.
I saw the ashes of burned-out barracks and royal homes.
And under the mahogany trees we exchanged long speeches
And ceremonial gifts.
And I arrived at Elissa, the nest of falcons
Defying the pride of Conquerors.
I saw once again the old dwelling on the hill,
A village of long and lowering eyelashes.
I recited the message to the Guardian of our Blood:
The diseases the ruined trade, organized hunts,
And bourgeois decorum and the unlubricated scorn
Swilling the bellies of the slaves. “
Leopold Sédar Senghor

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judging by what it happening

by Ahmed (not verified) - 24/10/2010 - 20:40

judging by what it happening in Africa, I have fairly concluded that Africa is not ready for democracy. We have corrupt leaders who incite violence to stay in power.

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Guinea Elections

by Jean Paul Dupin (not verified) - 24/10/2010 - 15:15

There are no acceptable excuses for this last cancellation particularly as all in control know very well that every delay will lead to more tensions and violence. The politely referred to as 'logistical problems' are down to sheer incompetence magnified by the usual total lack of interest in anything unless there is a profitable opportunity to roll out the usual begging bowl. Pity the people but they are of no interest to anybody.