Pic from the October 26 march in Washington, DC, against the Guinean military junta

Guinea: Dec. 8th March in NYC

Monday, November 30, 2009
By T.
Join the second march on the UN by Guineans and their allies in New York City, Thursday December 8th.  If you can’t make it, there are ways to get involved, including organizing solidarity events and extensive letter writing campaigns, so please do!

Kadiatou Diallo (Amadou Diallo’s mother) and Norm Siegal of the NYCLU are lending their voices to this, in support of “Alliance Guinea” in America. Their Advocacy page asks: “Are you an elected leader or political activist? Join our advocacy action group. Email allianceguinea(at)gmail.com to get involved in any of these sub-committees.”   There is also a full list of ways you can help at http://www.allianceguinea.org/advocacy-what-you-can-do/ .

The US based rights group Alliance Guinea is organizing a march and protest demanding the military junta in Conakry, murderers of thousands of innocents and, be brought to justice.  Only last week it was reported that the Guinean military was employing South African and Israeli mercenaries, hired by a firm run by a US former West Point graduate and Morgan Stanley executive, to train ethnic militias.  The use of such divisions, long overcome in by most Guineans, could plunge the nation into a civil war like Yugoslavia  experienced in the 1990s, and create suffering across West Africa.  Demand the UN make sure the regime in Conakry knows they have no future in government, and their only hope is to hand over power to a civilian transitional authority immediately.

If you can’t make the Tuesday lunchtime march:

    * Write a letter to your government and press demanding action, and

    * Come to the “Musique contre la Violence” unity night in Harlem on December 9 at 8PM at Shrine in Harlem

Full release follows:
Pro-democracy march in NYC on Dec. 8

From: Alliance Guinea
http://www.allianceguinea.org

This is far from over – the latest news out of Guinea is a proposed deal that would have the CNDD junta heading a “national transition council” for up to 10 months and open the door for Dadis to stand in elections. At the same time, the UN is beginning the work of the international commission of inquiry into the crimes of September 28, but it’s clear that more international pressure against the military and support for the population is needed.

Here in New York Alliance Guinea has joined forces with the Guinean Forces Vives in the US and our friends Kadiatou Diallo and Norman Siegel of the Amadou Diallo Foundation to form the “September 28 Coalition for Justice and Democracy in Guinea.”

Together we are organizing a march and rally on Tuesday, December 8 from 11am – 3pm to demand justice for the crimes committed and support for a speedy and democratic transition to civilian rule in Guinea. At 11am we will gather in front of the Guinean consulate at 140 E. 39th St., marching then to 47th Street and rallying by noon at Dag Hammarskjold Park in front of the United Nations.
see http://www.allianceguinea.org Stay tuned for a list of expected speakers.

If you live far from New York and cannot join us in person, here are two things you can still do:

   1. Make a donation – help us offset the cost of the rally (permits, transport, stage & sound system costs, etc.) through our new online giving button at http://www.allianceguinea.org  Check it out and pass the word – every gift counts!
   2. Write a letter (again!) to your local newspaper or Congressperson/Member of Parliament and tell them about the march and how the latest news out of Guinea confirms the critical need for international pressure and support is critical to getting justice and preventing what could spiral into civil war. For sample letters and other tips, see http://www.allianceguinea.org/advocacy-what-you-can-do/
   3. And if you are in the New York area and can’t make it during lunch hour on Tuesday, don’t miss for what is going to be an amazing “Musique contre la Violence” unity night in Harlem on December 9 at 8pm at Shrine in Harlem with some of the greatest masters of Guinean music living in America and guest speakers from the September 28 Coalition. (2271 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, New York, NY 10030)

The situation in Guinea is just as dire as ever, and justice must be served and the military must go.”

On September 28, 2009, more than 500,000 Guineans gathered in the capital city of Conakry to protest the candidacy of junta leader Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara in the upcoming presidential election.  According to reports by human rights organizations, it is estimated that armed security forces killed at least 157 people and brutalized and raped dozens of women.

In response, the United Nations Security Council has issued a press release condemning the murder of innocent civilians and urges Guinean authorities to uphold the rule of law.  Additionally, on October 28, 2009, Security Council President Hoang Chi Trung of Viet Nam reported that the UN is working with ECOWAS and the AU to closely monitor the situation.

In the United States, a Senate resolution was introduced in Congress (S. RES. 345) on November 9, 2009 to condemn the human rights violations in Guinea and demonstrate support for current UN efforts to investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for orchestrating and carrying out the political violence.

U.S. Legislation and Reports:

• U.S. Congress, S. RES. 345 “Deploring the rape and assault of women in Guinea and the killing of political protesters”.   Introduced November 9, 2009 to condemn human rights violations in Guinea and  vocalize  support for United Nations efforts  to investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for orchestrating and carrying out political violence.

• Department of State, 2008 Human Rights Report on Guinea

United Nations Documents:

• Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Guinea Homepage

Human Advocacy Organization Reports:

• Amnesty International – Press Releases on Guinea

• Human Rights Watch -  News and Reports on Guinea

Guinea Military Arrest Human Rights Official

UN commission investigating the September deaths of more than 150 opposition protesters

Scott Stearns | Dakar 29 November 2009

Guinea’s military government has arrested a prominent human rights official while United Nations investigators are in the country to find out what happened when more than 150 opposition protestors were killed two months ago.

Soldiers detained human rights leader Mouctar Diallo when he returned to the capital, Conakry, after a visit to his home village.

Diallo’s wife, Djenabou Diallo, says he was arrested on Thursday by men from the special service against banditry and the fight against drugs.  She says she has been denied permission to see him.

Tierno Madjou Sow, President of Guinea’s Organization for the Defense of Human Rights, says Diallo is being held at Conakry’s main military barracks – Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo. Sow says Diallo was arrested because of an interview he gave to the Voice of America on September 28th — the day soldiers opened fire on protestors in the capital’s main sports stadium.

Security officials in Conakry also told French officials that Diallo’s arrest is in connection with that VOA interview.

A U.N. commission of inquiry is in Guinea to investigate September’s violence.  Human rights groups say at least 157 people were killed.  The military says 57 people died, most in the crush of people fleeing the stadium.

The demonstration was called to protest the expected presidential candidacy of military ruler Captain Moussa Dadis Camara.

Captain Camara has expressed his “profound sympathy” for the families of those killed.  But because he was not at the stadium, he says he is not responsible for the violence.  Instead, he blames his political opponents and what he calls “uncontrollable elements” of the military.

Captain Camara is promising to cooperate fully with the U.N. inquiry and met with its commission members shortly after their arrival in Conakry last week.

Diallo is a former counselor in the political section of the U.S. embassy in Conakry and is now the director for the promotion and protection of human rights at Guinea’s national monitoring group for human rights.

Human rights official Sow says Diallo’s arrest has people scared.

Even though the constitution was suspended following last December’s coup, Sow says the military government has promised to respect all of the human rights conventions signed by Guinea, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

25 November 2009 – 13H53 

 
January 31 election promise ‘impossible’ to keep

The promise by Guinea’s military rulers to hold elections on January 31 will be “technically impossible” to keep, the head of the west African country’s poll commission told AFP Wednesday.
By News Wires (text)
 

AFP – The promise by Guinea’s military rulers to hold elections on January 31 will be “technically impossible” to keep, the head of the west African country’s poll commission told AFP Wednesday.
 
“It is technically impossible to hold elections at the planned date because of several unforeseen circumstances,” said voting commission chief Ben Sekou Sylla, speaking by telephone from Guinea’s capital Conakry.
 
He added that voter lists had yet to be drawn up because international donors have withdrawn aid for Guinea following the September massacre of scores of opposition protesters by the security forces.
 
“We have not even commissioned electoral materials yet, we don’t have voter lists because of the suspension of financial aid by donors,” Sylla explained.
 
“We are waiting to be asked to propose a new date and maybe the ongoing talks in Ouagadougou will lead to that,” he added, referring to talks in the Burkina Faso capital between the junta and the opposition.
 
The junta, which seized power in a bloodless coup in December 2008, had pledged to hold presidential elections on January 31.
 
However the country has been in political deadlock after government forces opened fire on anti-junta demonstrators at a football stadium in September. The UN and human rights organisations said more than 150 civilians were killed.
 
For the past few weeks Burkina Faso’s president Blaise Compaore, who has been designated as the international mediator in the conflict, has been trying to lead negotiations between the rival factions but so far his proposals have been rejected. “

Guinea’s independent press group threatened by military

afrol News, 27 November - Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has raised alarm with the safety and protection of the media in Guinea following an alleged plot by the military junta, targeting the independent media.

RSF said it had learned from a source within the military government in Conakry that the Lynx-Lance press group and some of its journalists could be the target of an “operation.” Consisting of two weeklies, “La Lance” and the satirical “Le Lynx”, with a combined print run that is the largest in Guinea, the group is renowned for being independent and outspoken.

“We are taking this information and the threat it entails very seriously,” RSF said. “With a climate of fear still prevailing within the Guinean media, we will hold the junta responsible for any use of violence against the Lynx-Lance press group and its employees. We also urge Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré, who is mediating in the Guinean crisis, to ask the junta to respect media freedom and the expression of diverse views.”

RSF said in a statement that it was told that the operation would consist of a night-time raid on the press group’s headquarters and “ambushes” against some of its journalists, further adding that the source said these attacks would be blamed on “uncontrolled elements.” It appears that the military have decided to “silence” the Lynx-Lance group because of its perceived support for the opposition, the media watchdog said.

Souleymane Diallo, the head of the Lynx-Lance group, also reportedly told Reporters Without Borders: “We must not let ourselves be discouraged by this information. We will continue to do our job with objectivity, as we always do.”

In a separate case, Reporters Without Borders had deplored the fact that Talibé Barry, the editor of the L’Indépendant press group, was summoned for questioning at the headquarters of the national gendarmerie on 11 November in connection with an article about the disappearance of a soldier.

Guinea’s journalists meanwhile regard Cheikh Fantamady Condé’s recent appointment as information and culture minister as a backward step for press freedom. Mr Condé is said to believe in media uniformity and is keeping Radio Télévision Guinéenne (RTG) and the other state media under close control, ensuring that their coverage of political developments is muted.

Ever since the military dispersed an opposition protest in a Conakry stadium with great loss of life on 28 September, many Guinean journalists have been living in fear, in part because of reliable reports that a blacklist of journalists has been compiled by staunch supporters of Guinea’s military leader, Capt Dadis Camara, for an operation called “Dadis or death.”

In the immediate aftermath of the 28 September massacre, the junta organised a manhunt for the “traitors” within the media who had “sold out Guinea” to the international community by covering the massacre. Several journalists who work for international media or online media have fled the country because of death threats. Some, who Reporters Without Borders prefers not to name, are seeking asylum abroad.

Kai Massaquoi is seen here at the basketball courts at James Logan High School, were he spends time playing hoops, in Union City, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009. Massaquoi a refugee from Guinea witnessed family members executed, spent years living in rehab clinics and camps before his family moved to California six years ago. Massaquoi recently graduated from James Logan High School. (Photo: Anda Chu/Staff)

There are many things about Gbessaykai Massaquoi that distinguish him from his friends. One is the twangy music he switches to when they get out of the car.

No one understands why this West African refugee, who has survived war and peril, likes country music band Rascal Flatts.

“We listen to hip-hop,” Massaquoi says. “Then, when they leave, I listen to country music. It’s soft. It calms you down. The sound, the melodies of it, just keep you going.”

American country songs distract him from violent memories and daily poverty. The music and other pastimes — basketball games each evening, long hikes through the trails above Hayward — are salves.

“All that stuff, it keeps me busy, stops me from thinking about the past,” he said.

Massaquoi, who goes by the nickname Kai, was a young boy when armed men stormed his family’s home in Monrovia, the Liberian capital that in 1996 was ravaged by chaos and urban slaughter.

“They asked, ‘Where’s Mr. Massaquoi?’ My stepmom said, ‘He’s not here.’ They said, ‘We came to kill him.’”‰”

Born in Guinea to parents who fled from conflict in neighboring Liberia, his father had been a driver for Samuel Doe, the Liberian president who was executed by rebels in September 1990 — two months before Kai was born.

That made his family a target as fighters allied with rebel warlord Charles Taylor waged a brutal war to take over the country. Uncomfortable in Guinea, which had been flooded with refugees from years of bloodshed in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the family returned to Liberia because they thought they would be safe. They were wrong.

Assailants ordered the oldest brother to rape his stepmother — right now, they demanded, in full view of everyone. The brother refused and was shot dead on the spot.

Massaquoi, then 5, remembers sprinting outside and toward an uncle’s nearby home as bullets fired in his direction. It is one terrifying memory of many.

“I’m surprised that I’m here, that I actually made it to America,” said Massaquoi, who turned 19 this week.

Massaquoi will not share some stories, but he will say this: Along with witnessing the war, he was recruited to become a part of it.

“It was about tribalism, it was about religion,” he said. “Most kids, they join the rebels for revenge. ‘You killed my mom, you killed my dad, so now I’m going to kill you.’ That’s why the war kept going on for 14, 15 years. Just too much blood. Too much.”

Desperation and abductions also pressed thousands of boys to join the fight, wandering in bands and factions — some of them sponsored by government leaders — that battled throughout the northeastern counties of Liberia and across the forested border with Guinea.

“His story is not the only one in the U.S. and I would wager not even the only one in Oakland,” said P.W. Singer, an author and researcher with the nonprofit Brookings Institution. “You’re talking about a global phenomena. Let’s put it this way: There are roughly 300,000 active child combatants in the world.”

Burdened by wartime stories his family advised him not to divulge, Massaquoi will not talk about being a child soldier, only about how he got out of it.

“Me and my friend Prince, we decided to just get out of there,” he said. “While they were advancing, going toward the gunshots, we retreated.”

He and his friend fled from Liberia into Guinea, washing up in a river and cutting their disheveled hair before looking for refuge in the town of Yomou. Sometimes they had to steal or rob to get what they needed to survive.

“It was very hard for us to live normal, act normal,” he said.

They made their way to the refugee-filled border town of Gueckedougou and later to Conakry, the capital, where Massaquoi eventually entered a rehabilitation center before being transported to a refugee camp near Dabola. It wasn’t until just before coming to the United States that he was reunited with most of his family.

“As soon as you let it out, you feel free,” he said of his stories. “That’s what my family doesn’t want to do.”

The burdens of his past are compounded by the fact that many Liberians have been hesitant to forgive and move on, or are still afraid of what could happen to them, he said. It was children like him, they whisper, who killed or mutilated their relatives.

“Even when I go to a party, I hear it — ‘That kid was a child soldier’ — I hear them,” Massaquoi said.

More than 200,000 people were dead and untold thousands maimed by the time Liberia’s civil wars finally concluded with Taylor’s ousting in 2003.

“Like other child abuse, when it ends, that person may be scarred by that experience psychologically as well as physically, but it doesn’t mean that they are somehow lost forever,” Singer said. “It’s an experience that’s going to shape them, but it doesn’t mean they can’t get past it.”

Massaquoi’s first stop in the United States was Torrance, where he moved with his aging father and siblings when they arrived as refugees in fall 2003.

As he turned 13 and entered classrooms for the first time in years, Massaquoi had trouble adjusting. His father, frustrated by signs that the neighborhood gang culture was influencing his son, sent Massaquoi north to live with an aunt he barely knew. By age 17, the teen moved out of the house, rooming in Hayward with Lisa White, a cousin who had grown up in Texas.

They both had lost their mothers to illness. Friends sometimes lent them gas money, and they signed up for food stamps. When their apartment went up for sale last month, they prepared to sleep in a car, then reluctantly moved back with their aunt, paying $600 to sleep on the couch and floor of her converted garage.

“We don’t have bad credit, we just don’t have any credit,” said White, who hopes to find a new apartment soon. “Sometimes I ask, when was the last time anything good happened? And I can’t remember.”

White juggles caregiving work with studying engineering at Chabot College and enjoys both. Massaquoi, unemployed for months, has signed up to learn welding next year. He could make easy money selling drugs, his friends tell him. He changed his number to stop their calls.

“I don’t want to keep making mistakes. I made enough already,” he said.

The teen was struggling to get through high school more than a year ago when Sharyl Larson, a teacher at the Union City adult school where he was making up a course, first spotted him in a classroom with his head down.

She chatted with him, asking what was wrong. They were questions that few adults had ventured to ask Massaquoi since he moved to America.

“She said, well, ‘Kai, I’m here, whenever you need my help, just let me know.’ She’s been a good friend,” he said.

Graduating from James Logan High School this year was one of his most hard-fought accomplishments. Massaquoi knows many languages — French, Kpelle, Mandingo and Arabic — but English was not his best, and he failed the state high school exit exam the first two times he tried.

On the third try, after studying hard, he passed it, meaning he could graduate. The day he found out about his score was one of the greatest of his life — not since he was 12, when he found out he was moving to the United States, did he feel so hopeful, he said.

“He’s been through a lot,” said Larson, who is no longer Massaquoi’s teacher but remains a friend. “He’s going through hard times right now. But he manages to get up every day to look for work and take care of his business.”

The ebullience that rests beneath Massaquoi’s serious outlook was on display Sunday, as Larson invited Massaquoi and White over for an early Thanksgiving dinner at her Oakland home. The friends joked, discussed their challenges but also the possibilities they have for the long lives ahead of them.

“I think he will survive,” Larson said. “If the past means anything, he’ll be able to get through anything.”

Source: Inside Bay Area

Thought Leader » Michael Trapido »

Are SA mercenaries assisting Guinea’s military junta?

Following is an excerpt from the above article:

South Africa’s “Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act”

In terms thereof the relevant sections are :

Definitions :

(iii) ‘‘foreign military assistance’’ means military services or military-related
services, or any attempt, encouragement, incitement or solicitation to render
such services, in the form of—
(a) military assistance to a party to the armed conflict by means of—
(i) advice or training;
(ii) personnel, financial, logistical, intelligence or operational support;
(iii) personnel recruitment;
(iv) medical or para-medical services; or
(v) procurement of equipment;
(b) security services for the protection of individuals involved in armed
conflict or their property;
(c) any action aimed at overthrowing a government or undermining the
constitutional order, sovereignty or territorial integrity of a state;
(d) any other action that has the result of furthering the military interests of
a party to the armed conflict,

3. No person may within the Republic or elsewhere—
(a) offer to render any foreign military assistance to any state or organ of state,
group of persons or other entity or person unless he or she has been granted
authorisation to offer such assistance in terms of section 4;
(b) render any foreign military assistance to any state or organ of state, group of
persons or other entity or person unless such assistance is rendered in
accordance with an agreement approved in terms of section 5.

8. (1) Any person who contravenes any provision of section 2 or 3, or fails to comply
with a condition with regard to any authorisation or approval granted in terms of section
4 or 5, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment
or to both such fine and imprisonment.
(2) The court convicting any person of an offence under this Act may declare any
armament, weapon, vehicle, uniform, equipment or other property or object in respect of
which the offence was committed or which was used for, or in connection with the
commission of the offence, to be forfeited to the state.

Accordingly if South Africans have been training foreign military without authorisation as set out in sections 4 and 5 of the act then they have committed an offence in terms of the act and are liable to punishment in terms of Section 8 thereof.

In terms of the definition set out in iii above it would appear that any South African found with the junta’s military would have an extremely difficult time explaining the reason for his being there. The act is clear; you cannot render foreign military assistance inside or outside the republic without permission.

Louise Arbour, in addition to being the president of International Crisis Group, is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Keeping West Africa Stable

By LOUISE ARBOUR
Published: November 26, 2009

Three West African states — Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire — have emerged from civil war to fragile stability in the past few years. But a civil war is brewing in Guinea that may destroy those achievements and produce a humanitarian disaster.

When the country’s long-time dictator, Lansana Conte, died in 2008, it briefly looked like Guinea might transition relatively smoothly to elected government. That hope began to fade when Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, the leader of the military junta that had taken over, began to backtrack from the promise that he would not seek permanent power. It turned to nightmare on Sept. 28, when soldiers killed more than 150 demonstrators and raped scores of women.

There may be worse to come. In the month before that massacre, observers reported the recruitment of militias in Guinea’s isolated forest region, where elements of the badly fractured military leadership were training fighters for possible bids to seize power.

Many of these fighters are ex-combatants from the Liberian civil war, when Guinean militias helped overthrow Charles Taylor’s dictatorship. In its recruiting drive, the junta, some of whose members were deeply involved in that conflict, is reactivating the networks that fed West Africa’s recent wars.

Two days after the massacre, officials from the regional organization, Ecowas, told the International Crisis Group that international action was urgently needed to remove the military from power and hold early elections. Their fear was not only of a war that could spread like wildfire but also of the consequences of another power grab.

Only months before, the president of Niger overthrew his country’s Constitution and got away with it. Captain Camara and the Guinean military saw that and drew the conclusion that they could do likewise. If they now solidify their power, a half dozen leaders across Africa will be calculating their chances to do the same, Ecowas officials warned. We must not allow that to happen.

After the September massacre, Ecowas and the African Union began demanding that the military keep its promise to yield power to elected civilians and appointed President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso to mediate the process.

The large majority of Guineans who insist they will not accept military rule have formed the Forces Vives, a coalition of political parties, unions and other elements of civil society. But Captain Camara and the junta will not go easily. Mr. Compaoré, a former soldier, coup leader and political godfather of Charles Taylor, is not the most reliable man to preach democracy and civilian rule.

An attempt to replace Captain Camara, who gives signs of mental instability, with another general, even temporarily, could fracture the military’s unity and bring the militias out of their forest camps with guns blazing. The Forces Vives understandably will not accept a junta offer or a Compaoré proposal of a “national union” government the military would inevitably dominate.

What is needed quickly is broad international support for the good intentions of Ecowas and the African Union. The Compaoré mission should accept U.N. offers of mediation support and stick to the region’s initial objective: managing the junta’s withdrawal from power. The U.S., with a major investment in a stable Liberia, should supplement its diplomatic backing for that effort by delegating a senior military officer to speak general-to-general with the junta.

The junta has abused Russia’s major bauxite investment to the point that Moscow recognizes the junta equals chaos, and is cooperating with the Africans. Immediately after the September massacre, the junta announced a $7 billion Chinese investment. Details of the deal with the Hong Kong-based company remain murky, and there are clear signs Beijing is skeptical that its interests would be served by Captain Camara. In any case, it should make sure no Chinese company props up the junta.

The elements of an unusually unified international approach — a transitional administration for no more than six months to prepare civilian elections — thus exist. What is needed is high-level attention in the main capitals, both to keep the pressure on and to prepare an operational strategy.

That strategy needs to include incentives for the Guinean military to cooperate — incentives that involve legitimate roles under a civilian-led government. An early step should be to get an Ecowas political and military team on the ground in Guinea, to provide guarantees against another massacre and prepare the way for a group to safeguard elections. The alternative for quickly putting such a strategy in place is likely to be a new war from which all West Africa would suffer.

Louise Arbour is president of the International Crisis Group.

“We have recorded 100 cases of rape against women committed Sept. 28 and the two days that followed,” said Thierno Maadjou Sow, president of the Guinean Organisation of Human Rights, which is working with the U.N. investigators.

“Most were schoolchildren, students, businesswomen, teachers, even journalists.”

The organisation had found evidence that 20 victims were taken from a medical clinic to secret locations where they were drugged and raped repeatedly.

At least 100 women raped during Guinea protest crackdown

* UN experts investigating human rights abuses

By Saliou Samb

CONAKRY, Nov 26 (Reuters) – Guinean soldiers raped at least 100 women during a crackdown on protesters in September, a human rights group said on Thursday.

The findings were released as United Nations experts began to investigate the repression, in which about 160 people were killed. The crackdown has drawn widespread condemnation and brought sanctions against the ruling military junta.

“We have recorded 100 cases of rape against women committed Sept. 28 and the two days that followed,” said Thierno Maadjou Sow, president of the Guinean Organisation of Human Rights, which is working with the U.N. investigators.

“Most were schoolchildren, students, businesswomen, teachers, even journalists.”

The organisation had found evidence that 20 victims were taken from a medical clinic to secret locations where they were drugged and raped repeatedly.

Three U.N. experts arrived in the West African nation, the world’s top supplier of aluminum ore bauxite, on Wednesday to investigate the crackdown in which security forces used guns, steel pipes and knives on unarmed demonstrators gathered in a Conakry stadium.

Witnesses have said some soldiers violated women using gunbarrels and bayonets.

The demonstrators were protesting against the junta, whose leader Captain Musa Dadis Camara stepped back from a promise to opt out of elections intended to restore civilian rule.

The former soldier came to power in a coup in December following the death of strongman President Lansana Conte, briefly enjoying popularity among Guineans hopeful for a less ruthless regime.

International efforts to stave off new violence in the country have been complicated by reports Camara has hired foreign mercenaries to train a force to secure his place in power.

Sow said the U.N. investigation could be hampered by fear among witnesses of retribution if they cooperate.

“Many of the raped women have already been interviewed but today some of them are so fearful that we wonder how they will react,” Sow said.

Camara and his junta allies have faced condemnation from African neighbours, Washington and Brussels, and were hit by travel bans, freezes on foreign bank accounts and an arms embargo.

((Reporting by Saliou Samb; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Angus MacSwan, richard.valdmanis@thomsonreuters.com; Dakar newsroom +221 33 864 5076)) (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com/)”

Junta seems to think that it is not possible to hold Guinea’s next presidential election by the end of next January.  

Guinea junta moves to bar opposition from the vote

25 November 2009 – 18H49   

AFP – Guinea’s military junta on Wednesday threatened to keep opposition leaders out of a presidential election which the country’s poll watchdog said would be impossible to hold anyway.

Political tensions also mounted ahead of the arrival of a UN team to investigate a massacre of opposition demonstrators in a stadium in which at least 150 people were killed, according to the UN and rights groups.

International donors have withdrawn aid in an effort to press Moussa Dadis Camara’s junta into talks with the opposition.

Speaking in Burkina Faso, where President Blaise Campaore has tried to mediate in the crisis, the junta’s Communications Minister Idrissa Cherif told AFP that no-one who has been prime minister in Guinea would be allowed to take part in the presidential election which is scheduled for January 31.

“The country has been pillaged, sold off, by these people, we cannot accept that,” Cherif said, adding that the former leaders should face legal action.

“The new constitution that we are going to put in place will say who can be a candidate and who can’t. But we cannot let these people who are not clean run the country again,” Cherif said.

The move would effectively block at least three major opposition leaders who have been prime minister from running for president.

The opposition last week rejected proposals allowing the junta to stay in power while a transitional government of national unity organises new elections.

Under the proposals, junta leader Camara would be allowed to be a candidate for the presidency, something the opposition has repeatedly opposed.

Camara came to power in a coup on December 23, 2008 after the death of dictator Lansana Conte, who had led the country since 1984. Initial optimism quickly soured in the mineral-rich country however.

The opposition demonstration in a Conakry stadium on September 28 was to oppose Camara’s standing for the presidency. Troops opened fire there killing between 150 and 200 people, according to rights groups. Many women were publicly raped by the soldiers.

The junta says 56 people were killed and 934 injured in the stadium.

The UN team was expected in Conakry late on Wednesday to step up an investigation into the events. An advance mission arrived in mid-November to gather testimony.

“The Guinean Organisation for the Defence of Human Rights (OGDH) has already given dozens of victim’s statements, audio and video files to the (UN) technical commission,” Abdoul Gadiri Diallo of the OGDH said.

He added however that several soldiers who had indicated that they were ready to testify about the killings could no longer be reached. The rights watchdog said some soldiers had been sent away on special missions while others have disappeared.

Guinea’s electoral commission said the January 31 date set by the junta for the presidential election was technically impossible because of lack of funds.

“We have not even commissioned electoral materials yet, we don’t have voter lists because of the suspension of financial aid by donors,” commission chief Ben Sekou Sylla told AFP.

Mamadou Baadiko Bah, head of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces (UFD) said that “since the events of September 28, it is impossible to even consider free and fair elections.” Bah said there was “no national consensus” for a vote.

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new global version of Amazon’s Kindle for Christmas, be aware that there are still quite a few places that the global version will NOT work.  I was disappointed to find that the new version still will not work in my country.

Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.   I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in (below).

It’s also interesting to note the PATTERN of groups of countries where the Kindle doesn’t work–some countries probably lack satellite coverage or delivery systems, while others probably don’t WANT readers to be able to download whatever they want by satellite.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka,  Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S.,  Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009) the following countries:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan,  Yemen.

Nature and Animal Conservation

 

     Preserving species and their habitats is important for ecosystems to self-sustain themselves. Yet, the pressures to destroy habitat for logging, illegal hunting, and other challenges are making conservation a struggle.

Visit : http://www.globalissues.org/article/1…

 What is Biodiversity ?

 

    The variety of life on Earth, its biological diversity is commonly referred to as biodiversity. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth.

   

    Appropriate conservation and sustainable development strategies attempt to recognize this as being integral to any approach. Almost all cultures have in some way or form recognized the importance that nature, and its biological diversity has had upon them and the need to maintain it. Yet, power, greed and politics have affected the precarious balance.

Does it really matter if there arent so many species?

Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play.

For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.

Who Cares?

  Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play. For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.

Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions

It is feared that human activity is causing massive extinctions. From various animal species, forests and the ecosystems that forests support, marine life. The costs associated with deteriorating or vanishing ecosystems will be high. However, sustainable development and consumption would help avert ecological problems.

 

  

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The white ribbon has become the symbol for the day.

Click on the picture to join the Community

Just over two months ago, the small West African nation of Guinea featured prominently in the news because of the violence that took place in a football stadium in the capital Conakry on September 28^th, causing public outrage both within Guinea and in the international community. 

One-hundred and fifty-seven people were killed and 1,200 wounded when the military used tear gas and then opened fire into an unarmed crowd of 50,000 pro-democracy and opposition demonstrators.  In addition to shooting and bayoneting people, witnesses reported that soldiers publicly and violently raped a number of women.  Others accounts suggest that the military removed bodies to cover up the number of dead.  President and Captain Moussa Dadis Camara denied direct responsibility or knowledge for the assaults, saying that his soldiers were “uncontrollable.”  

Camara was initially popular after coming into power in December 2008 through a bloodless military coup hours after the death of Lansana Conte, the former president who had ruled for more than two decades and himself came to power through a coup in 1984.  Some Guineans liked Camara at the start because he came down hard on the drug-trafficking industry and made promises of democracy, including a pledge to hold a presidential election on January 31, 2010 in which he could not run.  

But as time has passed, Camara has held onto his power and started to backtrack on his promises.  Various statements he made led to rumors that he was planning to run in the January elections.  People started to speak out against his military rule and protest against him running for president.  This dissent is what motivated the rally on September 28^th which so tragically ended.    

As usual, shock stories of violence tend to dominate the news from Africa, and then the media goes quiet on the longer-term outcomes or deeper analysis.  Unfortunately, Camara is still in power, although the international community has put significant pressure on him.  In response to the attacks, France, Guinea’s former colonial power, suspended military ties with the country, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) instituted an arms embargo on Guinea in mid-October, and the African Union has called for Camara to step down and is threatening sanctions. 

Moreover, The United Nations Commission of Inquiry, with the support of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, has begun an investigation into the massacre.  The three-person commission is led by an Algerian judge and former foreign minister, Mohamed Bedjaoui, and its other two members are a former minister of Burundi and the senior lawyer of Mauritius.  Their goal is to get to the bottom of what happened on September 28^th while still ensuring protection for witnesses.  The commission expects to be in Guinea for no more than 10 days. 

Was it not Geoffrey Chaucer, the English Playwright who once wrote; “He who sups with the devil needs a long spoon”? Does this maxim still hold sway? I am disgusted by the shenanigans concerning foreign companies operating in Sudan, Guinea and Belarus. I would have thought that there would have been a moral stance on dealings with tin pot despots.

Foreign companies have just signed oil and gas deals with the dictator, Alyaksandr Grigorevich Lukashenka of Belarus despite the fact that he has an appalling human rights record and has banned all opposition to his regime. During the Presidency of Clinton, he locked foreign diplomats from their compounds and cut off their electricity.

The Chinese are doing roaring business with the Sudanese officials despite the appalling human rights record of the regime and the fact that Bashir has been indicted for human rights abuses and is wanted for war crimes committed in the Darfur region.

The same situation exists in Guinea where South Africa is arming a militia loyal to the despotic regime of Moussa Camara with the intention of cowing dissident groups in the country. I understand that business is important to all and sundry, but must Big bucks come before human rights?

Reporters Without Borders learned yesterday from a source within the military government in Conakry that the Lynx-Lance press group and some of its journalists could be the target of an “operation.” Consisting of two weeklies, La Lance and the satirical Le Lynx, with a combined print run that is the largest in Guinea, the group is renowned for being independent and outspoken.

“We are taking this information and the threat it entails very seriously,” Reporters Without Borders said. “With a climate of fear still prevailing within the Guinean media, we will hold the junta responsible for any use of violence against the Lynx-Lance press group and its employees. We also urge Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré, who is mediating in the Guinean crisis, to ask the junta to respect media freedom and the expression of diverse views.”

Reporters Without Borders was told that the operation would consist of a night-time raid on the press group’s headquarters and “ambushes” against some of its journalists. These attacks would be blamed on “uncontrolled elements.” It appears that the military have decided to “silence” theLynx-Lance group because of its perceived support for the opposition.

Souleymane Diallo, the head of the Lynx-Lance group, told Reporters Without Borders: “We must not let ourselves be discouraged by this information. We will continue to do our job with objectivity, as we always do.”

In a separate case, Reporters Without Borders deplores the fact that Talibé Barry, the editor of the L’Indépendant press group, was summoned for questioning at the headquarters of the national gendarmerie on 11 November in connection with an article about the disappearance of a soldier.

Guinea’s journalists meanwhile regard Cheikh Fantamady Condé’s recent appointment as information and culture minister as a backward step for press freedom. Condé believes in media uniformity and is keeping Radio Télévision Guinéenne (RTG) and the other state media under close control, ensuring that their coverage of political developments is muted.

Ever since the military dispersed an opposition protest in a Conakry stadium with great loss of life on 28 September, many Guinean journalists have been living in fear, in part because of reliable reports that a blacklist of journalists has been compiled by staunch supporters of Guinea’s military leader, Capt. Dadis Camara, for an operation called “Dadis or death.”

In the immediate aftermath of the 28 September massacre, the junta organised a manhunt for the “traitors” within the media who had “sold out Guinea” to the international community by covering the massacre. Several journalists who work for international media or online media have fled the country because of death threats. Some, who Reporters Without Borders prefers not to name, are seeking asylum abroad.

10:16 November 24th, 2009
Is the “wonga” running out for Africa’s mercenaries?

Posted by: David Lewis
Tags: Africa Blog, “dogs of war”, Camara, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, junta, mercenaries, Simon Mann

Africa’s infamous “dogs of war” may still be going strong, but it seems the rewards of the mercenary life aren’t quite what they used to be. 

Only this month, Britain’s Simon Mann won a pardon for his part in a foiled 2004 coup attempt on Equatorial Guinea, an old-style adventure whose glittering prize was the central African state’s multi-billion-dollar oil riches.

Contrast that to reports last week that a band of South African and other mercenaries had flown into the chaos of Guinea to train up a militia loyal to the incumbent junta leader — on a salary put at barely $3,500 a month.

That’s not bad money in most parts of the world, and there were reports that the company involved would have won extra remuneration in the form of minerals from Guinea’s fecund soil.

But it would have been peanuts to Mann, whose Equatorial Guinea coup was known as the “Wonga Plot” after the English slang for the money they hoped to yield in buckets.

While mercenaries are often seen as in the business of bringing governments down, it is not new that they should be trying to prop one up, as is happening in Guinea.

Mann himself is reported to have worked for the Angolan government in the 1990s to help it wrest back control of a key port from rebels, and again for Sierra Leonean authorities in the 2002 civil war there.

But what has changed since then is the economics. Thanks to the steady flow of new oil and mineral finds on the continent, the private security business in Africa is booming. A lot of the real pros now find there is steady money to made in guarding a gold mine in northern Congo, for example.

The more dubious end of the business is now increasingly the preserve of what some describe as cowboys.

“They couldn’t get enough people to do the job,” Henri Boshoff, a military analyst who served in the South African army, told Reuters of the mercenaries hired by Guinean junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara. “(The South Africans) were very desperate. They are not being very well paid.”

The Guinea mercenaries may not be in the same league as Mann and his fellow Wonga plotters, but their capacity to stir up trouble should not be underestimated.

The fact that Camara’s militia is being selected on tribal lines could add an alarming new ethnic dimension to Guinea’s instability.

Security sources also told Reuters that part of their job is to ensure the arrival of arms acquired by the junta in Ukraine in direct contravention of an international arms embargo.

South Africa is keen to get rid of its reputation as a training ground for hired guns and is officially investigating the activities of its nationals in Guinea.

Depending on what it finds, it may have to decide whether they are in breach of its
three-year-old anti-mercenary law that still contains grey areas as to what is mercenary behaviour.

Is it time for a more concerted effort by governments to end the days of Africa’s dogs of war? Or will the wonga run out by itself?

YPNXN9V6URBV

Guinea’s opposition renews confidence in Compaore as facilitator to tackle crisis
News Date: 24th November 2009
After totally rejecting the ECOWAS facilitator’s proposals for ending the political crisis, Guinea’s pressure groups have renewed their confidence in Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore in efforts to find a way out.

Compaore, who was named the facilitator weeks ago by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, have invited the opposition pressure groups and the military junta’s team for talks in Ouagadougou for a power sharing deal. But the stalemate is yet to break following the deadly Sept. 28 clash in Conakry.

Guinea’s pressure groups were hosted in Ouagadougou on Friday and Saturday by President Compaore, who asked them to come up with a document detailing their grievances on the proposals that he had given them.

One of the opposition leaders, Sydia Toure, who was a former prime minister, noted on Sunday that the pressure groups only rejected the contents of the document but not the facilitator himself.

In their own document, the pressure groups insist the departure of the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) of Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara is “not negotiable” and that none of the members serving in the current government of the junta should be a presidential candidate.

According to well placed sources, the document from the pressure groups was handed over to the facilitator on Sunday.

The junta delegation already left Ouagadougou for Conakry and is expected back on Tuesday to continue with the negotiations.

The coming week is expected to be decisive for the protagonists in the Guinean crisis.

Guinea: Talks extended after rejection of mediation proposal

Source: Missionary International Service News Agency (MISNA)

Date: 23 Nov 2009
After hours of misunderstandings and discontent, which raised fears of an impasse in negotiations mediated by Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore, designated by the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), the talks resume today for three days in Ouagadougou between Guinea’s ruling junta and opposition.

The so-called Live Forces, which includes the opposition, unions and civil society, is due to present a counter-proposal to the mediator, after rejecting a proposal of the mediator on Friday that foresaw a 10-months transition period, headed by the junta leader captain Moussa Dadis Camara.

The Live Forces remain firm on their position regarding Camara, demanding he step down and the dissolution of the junta, as suggested in the past by the ‘International Contact Group for Guinea’.

According to the Live Forces, the transition must be headed by a civilian or military figure chosen consensually by the sides and no junta member should be allowed to run in the elections.

“My proposals are merely a preliminary phase of the negotiation, now the true debate opens”, said Compaore, whose mediating role drew some criticism, though he obtained the trust of the sides.

After 25 years of military rule of the late general Lansana Conte, Guinea has been ruled for 10 months by the junta, which progressively lost popularity after the announcement of a possible candidature in the presidential election of Camara.

The situation deteriorated further after the September 28 violent crackdown on an opposition demonstration that according to independent sources and the UN left over 150 dead, while according to the junta 57.

A UN international inquiry commission is investigating the circumstances of the repression and members of the panel are expected in Conakry November 25. [BO]

Most Opponents of Guinea Military Reject Power-Sharing Plan

But most of the leaders of that opposition alliance say they will not take part in any interim authority that includes military ruler Captain Moussa Camara and members of the council that has run Guinea since last December’s coup.

Bah Oury, the vice president of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces, says President Compaore is not following the recommendations of leaders from the Economic Community of West African States or the International Contact Group on Guinea.  Oury says the mediator’s mandate was clear: to arrange the peaceful departure of the military and establish a transitional government to resolve the crisis.

Instead of doing that, Oury says, President Compaore is proposing to give more power to the ruling military council than the council was asking for.  So that is why he says civil society groups reject the mediator’s proposal.

President Compaore was appointed by ECOWAS leaders to mediate the crisis following September’s killing of at least 157 opposition demonstrators.  They were protesting the expected presidential candidacy of Captain Camara when witnesses say soldiers opened fire in Conakry’s main sports stadium.

Former prime minister François Louncey Fall says the proposed transitional government rewards those responsible for that violence.

The 30-member interim authority under the Compaore plan has 10 positions for civil society, 10 positions for the ruling military council, and 10 positions for other groups that Fall believes would be close to the military.

He says taking part in that arrangement gives the opposition one-third of the power, while he says it represents a far greater portion of the population.  Fall says agreeing to that government would be like promoting those responsible for the violence of September 28.

Former Prime Minister Sidya Toure says President Compaore needs to try again.

Toure says the opposition alliance is rejecting President Compaore’s proposal because it does not conform with the demands of civil society.  He says there should be a new dialogue to come up with a document based more on consensus that better takes into account the views of all sides.

But not all of the military’s opponents reject President Compaore’s plan.  Former prime minister Cellou Diallo says the proposal recognizes the realities of power in Conakry.
 
Diallo says the proposal is a good idea because if the opposition is insisting that Captain Camara leave power, it will be very complicated because Diallo says Captain Camara can not and will not leave power for many reasons.  Diallo says he thinks that the opposition alliance nominating a vice president is a good idea.

Captain Camara has not announced his candidacy, but he has told his supporters he will not insult them by ignoring their demands that he run for president.

Amazon's Global Kindle Reader

I heard that Amazon now has a global version of Kindle. I was disappointed to find this morning that the new version still will not work in my country.

Since I’ve wanted one for some time, but have been waiting until they got a version that would work in my country, I checked out their website this morning, only to be disappointed again. Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new Global Kindle for a Christmas gift this year, since the new version will only work in SOME countries, I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S., Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan, Yemen.

Guinea junta leader’s candidacy ‘not negotiable’: official

(AFP) – 2 hours ago

OUAGADOUGOU — Guinean junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara’s candidacy in any fresh presidential elections is “not negotiable” in the current mediation talks, Communications Minister Idrissa Cherif said Sunday.

“There are some issues which are not negotiable. One is the president’s (Camara’s) candidacy (in new elections),” Cherif said.

“We will also not discuss the break-up of the CNDD (the junta),” he added.

Cherif said, however, that the junta were willing to form a unity government with the opposition parties to choose a prime minister

Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, who is mediating in Guinea’s crisis, on Saturday met with members of the junta and officials from Active Forces, an opposition, trade union and civil society umbrella group.

On Friday, the group rejected Compaore’s proposal that Camara should stay on as president during a 10-month transition period.

Under that same proposal, Camara and any other government members could stand in the presidential elections but only if they resign four months before the vote.

Further meetings are set to be held between the CNDD and Compaore on Tuesday.

Camara came to power in a bloodless coup on December 23 last year after the death of dictator Lansana Conte, who had led the country since 1984.

After an initial period of optimism, the mood turned sour in the mineral rich country.

Then government troops killed scores of opposition protesters in a Conakry stadium on September 28. The opposition had gathered to urge Camara not to run in a presidential election he has slated for January.

♬ Sibida

On 28 September 1958, the French government held a referendum on a new constitution. The colonies of the French colonial empire – except Algeria, which was legally a direct part of France – were given the choice between immediate independence or retaining their colonial status. Guinea chose independence, the only colony to do so. Thus, Guinea became the first French African colony to gain independence, on October 2nd 1958.

The first state orchestra to form after the country’s independence was Orchestré de la Garde Républicaine. Under the new government’s Authenticité policy, the group was “instructed to drop their European march tunes for music befitting the new nation”. The orchestra eventually split into two groups – Orchestré de la Garde Républicaine 1ère and Orchestré de la Garde Républicaine 2ème – whose only recorded output was a split album released in 1967. Orchestré de la Garde Républicaine 1ère later changed their name to Super Boiro Band.

The band took their name from the Camp Boiro prison, where may of the members had been guards. Members of the band included trumpeter and manger Mamadou Niaissa, vocalist Sane Camara and guitarists Karan Mady Diawara and Mamady Kouyaté. Mamady Kouyaté would later go on to resurrect Bembeya Jazz in the 1990s, and recently he formed Mamady Kouyaté & The Ambassadors.

Super Boiro Band’s first album was released in 1972, and their first single was released the following year. They released two more singles as well as their second album in 1975, and one more album in 1976 as well as appearing on the compilations Discothèque 73, Discothèque 74 and Discothèque 75. The band later changed their name to Super Flambeau, but never released any recordings. The single featured here was the last single that Syliphone released.

Catalog number SYL 574 on Editions Syliphone Conakry of Guinea, released 1975.