Guinea’s former leader, Moussa Dadis Camara, who used to be in charge with a lot of power, was caught again and sent back to prison on Saturday. This happened after a group of heavily armed fighters tried to help him escape from jail, but they were stopped by the army and his lawyer. So, he is now back in custody.
At least two other former officials on trial alongside Camara over a 2009 massacre during his presidency were taken in the earlier operation that sparked heavy gunfire in the capital Conakry, a minister and lawyers said.
“Captain Moussa Dadis Camara has been found safe and sound and taken back to prison,” an army spokesperson told AFP, without specifying the circumstances of the capture.
One of Camara’s lawyers, Jocamey Haba, told AFP his client was back behind bars.
Earlier, at about 5 in the morning, a group of very heavily armed men broke into the prison. They were able to take four prisoners with them, and one of them was Captain Moussa Dadis Camara.
The borders were closed after the armed men broke into the prison. It’s not clear if Camara left on his own or was forced to. The army said this was an attempt to disrupt government changes and they support the current military leaders.
There were armed and masked soldiers who said they came to free Camara. They knew where his cell was. Camara’s lawyer thinks he was taken against his will and is in danger. He trusts the justice system and wouldn’t try to run away.
They also mentioned that another man, Colonel Moussa Tiegboro Camara, was taken but has been caught again. Tiegboro Camara’s lawyer said he managed to get away from those holding him.
City is ‘sealed’
Several Guinean news sites quickly reported that Saturday’s events were not another putsch, but that a heavily armed commando had attacked the central prison.
The sound of gunfire could be heard before dawn in Kaloum — a central district that houses the presidency, several top government and administrative offices, the military headquarters and the main prison.
One witness, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there had been gunfire in the central district.
“The city centre has been sealed since dawn, we can neither enter, nor leave,” a shopkeeper added, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
“I wanted to go to the port area where I work but was prevented from leaving (Kaloum), where armoured vehicles have been deployed.”
An airport source said no flights had taken off from Conakry’s international airport on Saturday morning as air traffic staff could not get to the airport from Kaloum, where they often spend the night.
Guinea, a West African country of about 14 million people, has been led by a junta since Doumbouya stormed the presidential palace with soldiers and overthrew civilian president Alpha Conde in September 2021.
‘Compass’ of justice
Dadis Camara has been detained since going on trial in September 2022.
He and about 10 other former military and government officials are accused over a 2009 massacre carried out by security forces loyal to the then-junta leader.
The killing of 156 people and the rape of at least 109 women started at a political rally in a Conakry stadium on September 28, 2009 and continued in the days that followed, according to a UN-mandated inquiry.
Camara — who himself came to power in a coup in December 2008 — and his co-defendants are charged with murder, sexual violence, torture, abduction and kidnapping.
They face life in prison if convicted.
The trial is unprecedented in a country ruled for decades by authoritarian regimes, where people had become used to the impunity of the security forces, according to the international commission of inquiry into the massacre.
It opened in September last year at the urging of Doumbouya, who has promised to rebuild the Guinean state and make justice his “compass”.
Under international pressure, Doumbouya committed to handing over power to elected civilians within two years from January 2023.
The Forces Vives de Guinee, a collective of opposition parties and organisations, have since denounced unfulfilled commitments and an authoritarian drift, calling the junta an “emerging dictatorship”.
SOURCE:FRANCE24