General Sekouba Konate addresses troops at Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo, Guinea, 11 Dec 2009
Photo: AP

Guinea Military Trying to Avoid International Prosecution for Killing Civilians

With the United Nations calling for International Criminal Court action against Guinea’s ruling military council, the country’s acting leader, General Sekouba Konate, says he is addressing the issue internally.

Scott Stearns | Dakar 24 December 2009

Guinea’s military government is trying to avoid international prosecution of security forces responsible for killing opposition demonstrators by vowing to purge the army of soldiers guilty of human rights abuses.

With the United Nations calling for International Criminal Court action against Guinea’s ruling military council, the country’s acting leader says he is addressing the issue internally.

General Sekouba Konate says the killing of opposition demonstrators September 28 has tarnished the uniform of Guinea’s army, sowing hatred and suspicion within  its ranks.

Konate says the vast majority of defense and security forces have remained faithful to their oath to protect people and property.  But he told soldiers that some among them are undermining their prestige. For many Guineans, Konate says, the army today is a problem.

So he says the military must pull out of its ranks those who soil the uniform, who betray their oaths, and who disgrace the army in national and international opinion.

Konate says the strength and the authority of the army are based on order and discipline.  It cannot be abandoned to itself without morality or professionalism.  He says it is still possible to put things right with the support and assistance of the international community if soldiers begin to be conscious about their duties.

But much of the international community believes Guinea’s military is unable to protect its citizens or hold itself accountable for abuses.  No one has been arrested since September’s killing, violence the United Nations says amounts to a crime against humanity that is directly attributable to the military government, including its leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara.

Pushing for international prosecution of those responsible, the European Union is freezing the assets of members of the ruling council.  The United States has suspended Guinea from economic assistance under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

“The United States is outraged by the atrocities that have been committed in Guinea.  We think there absolutely has to be accountability,” said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.

Rice says the International Criminal Court need not wait for Security Council approval to begin action against Guinea’s military leaders.

“Because Guinea is a signatory to the ICC, it could be subject to the inquiries of the prosecutor irrespective of what the Council does or does not do,” she said.

France says Captain Camara must be among those prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

“We hope that the perpetrators of this crime will be brought to justice swiftly, including Dadis Camara,” said Nicolas de Riviere, the French deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

Captain Camara is recovering in a Moroccan military hospital after being shot by the former head of the presidential guard.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says he hopes the captain does not return to Guinea because that could trigger civil war.

Guinean Foreign Minister Alexandre Cece Loua says such a declaration from a foreign minister about a sovereign head of state is unacceptable.

Loua asks if Kouchner’s statement is evidence that France is calling for a civil war, saying it is meant to deprive Captain Camara and the Guinean people of their dignity.

Because Guineans believe in God, Loua said, they are staying calm in the face of the French Foreign Minister’s verbal attack.  He says the catastrophe that Kouchner predicts will be rejected by a Guinean people united in preserving their territorial integrity.

I possibly just failed my econ exam, which means my grade in the class is also going to plummet. I worked so hard for that class and prepared as much as possible for the exam. Fuck.

I have also failed in my relationship, which was evident in the HUGE fight we got in tonight. Not too many details there, but we fight about the same things over and over again, which I never seem to learn from. I need to seriously think about if I can continue to be in a relationship with someone who is this selfish and immature. Also, given my current state of mind, I don’t know if a relationship is the best thing for me.

I also failed in eating. I ate more than I planned, went to the gym, felt sick and purged. I managed an 80 min cardio workout, but failed at running and didn’t really work that hard. I came home, fought with the boyfriend, then binged when he left. I zoned out, made and ate whatever I could get my hands on. The part about not keeping unhealthy foods at home? Well, you can’t control what’s in your kitchen when you have roommates. I thought about leaving and going to the nearest store or restaurant to buy something delicious and sinful, but the thought of leaving, walking in to buy “binge food” and spending money on items that I wouldn’t even enjoy, would be detrimental to my health, and eventually be thrown back up into a toilet was insane, even to me, even in my binge mindset.

So, in summary, tonight was 3 major failures. All in a row. All things that I cannot take back, undo or re-do. HOWEVER – I know myself and I know that I get into a terrible cycle whenever I feel like a failure. So, tomorrow is a new day with new possibilities. I am changing my perspective, acknowledging the failure, learning from my mistakes and moving forward.

1) no greasy food before the gym
2) no eating food that isn’t yours
3) no relationship talks during exam week
4) no “well, I might as well…” mentality about food. Food is not all or nothing. Treats are not all or nothing. Purging is NOT a solution to binging. Binging is not a solution to a failure, nor does it make me feel better. Binging is not a success or a mechanism to manage my emotions. I am not controlling anything when I binge, and I am certainly not controlling anything when I purge.

This is the last time. I will call this a relapse, move forward and start tomorrow with a new outlook. Gym, then studying for exam #3. Eating as normally and healthfully as possible. No excuses, no mistakes. I will not eat a ton of food tomorrow because I “emptied my stomach last night, so it’s ok that I’m super hungry and binge-y this morning”. No, absolutely not.

I ate dinner, and I feel intensely huge. I want to purge it– it’s rising in my throat as if to say, “you can’t stop me.” I can stop it– I know I can. It’s my JOB to stop it. I don’t want to, but I know that if I purge now, I will binge later. I didn’t eat a huge dinner either. Actually, in the way of meals, it was pretty small, but I feel like I ate poorly today. Pumpkin bread, soup, bread, crab cake, chicken, mashed potatoes, baked stuff. All in all, the food wasn’t much, but the calories were.

I miss my scale. I was going to bring it home with me, but I left it at school, under my bed, all by itself. I desperately need to know how fat I am. I feel big, and gross. I know I am big. I feel bigger than big. I can’t explain it. I wish I could cut it off of me. I miss going to the gym and walking and the dry cold of Rochester. I don’t know what to do. I’m losing my mind.

For such a fat girl, I obsess over my size an aweful lot. I hate my reflection. I hate looking down– all I see is fat and disgusting flesh. I hate it. I genuinely hate it.

Police in Derbyshire mount a purge on travelling criminals and find dozens of motorists using phones behind the wheel…. From BBC News. Full story

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Police in Derbyshire mount a purge on travelling criminals and find dozens of motorists using phones behind the wheel…. From BBC News. Full story

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Well, I’ve got a lot on my mind tonight and it seems like a pretty good time to rant about my life and talk about bullshit. It’s -37 degrees outside tonight anyways, so I’m not going anywhere. Not that I have anywhere to go anyways. Really, not a single place to go or anyone to go with.

I’ve had a collection of ideas to hurt myself for the last 6 months or so. Thoughts I haven’t had in years – probably four to six years or so…They have been slowly getting stronger until they were nearly uncontrollable thoughts of tearing myself to pieces; holding a blade while laying in the tub, knicking at my skin. Until a couple nights ago when it became out of my sane mind’s hands.

Two days, three nice long gashes down my ribcage and I’m so upset with myself. I haven’t done this in so long and I feel like I’m way to old for this. I cut on my ribs so no one would see it unless I was topless or, heaven forbid, wearing a bikini. My boyfriend is going to freak out. (“You need to worry about you right now, not him.”) I’ll probably do it again.

I have no idea why I did this, or why I do about 90% of the things I do. Why do I hate myself so much that I do subtle things to slowly kill my body? Why do I refuse myself food? Why do I butcher my body in a million different ways? Why do I do everything I can to slowly destroy myself? Why do I hate myself in the first place?

I guess skipping lunch for a couple days was a bad idea. I’m back down to under 750 calories a day, which will probably get lower and lower. I don’t even care, actually. I hope it does. I want to go to Montreal thinner then ever so I can be happy for once. Will I be happy? I guess I’ll see.

I stopped the wild rose cleanse. Mainly because I fucked up anyways binging and purging. Also, because my poop came out the way it went in and when I pooped broccoli I figured it was enough…Really, really gross. Also, the herbal supplements were disgusting. So, in a nutshell, the whole thing was GROSS and I don’t want to deal with it right now.

I don’t know why I’m so fucked up. I’m a nice girl and I’ve had a really great life. Compared to lots of people, at least. I mean, really good. Why did I end up being so fucked? Nothing really AWFUL ever happened in my life. I’m just being over-fucking-sensitive. Why do I do this to my mom? She’s been so good to me.

I always wonder why I’m in therapy. I’m not getting better and I don’t FEEL like dealing with problems in my life. I’d rather just sit alone, get thin, and destroy myself. I don’t want to be alive anyways, so why bother getting better? My “stress numbers” aren’t changing anyways, so wtf do I go for? Maybe there’s nothing to fix and that’s why nothing changes. Maybe I should go weekly instead of biweekly. Would it help? Bleeeeegh. I hate going. Maybe I just won’t go at all.

My mind changes like I’ve no other. Ugh.

SCRATCH not eating anything else. I just ate a bag of bits and bites, candy and cookies which I’m about to purge in about 30 seconds. Wonder why I do this?

There really hasn’t been much going on, which is why I haven’t been posting too much.  Nothing is worth blogging about, because it’s things I’ve said a million times.  I figured I’d blog tonight, though, to catch everyone up.

I’ve been stuck at the same weight for a while.  The fact that I haven’t gained anything is a miracle, but amazing.  I haven’t been binging lately, just eating a whole lot of crap.  I’m not supposed to eat every meal, that’s just a general rule.  Usually I don’t, I just eat a whole bunch of shit like cookies, chips, etc. before I actually eat a meal.  I feel like if I could cut everything else out and just eat a low calorie meal around five I’d be alright for a while.  I need to get that much under control, before I start trying to fast again.

Although things have been kind of hard, with me eating so much and such, I feel like I am slowly gaining my control back.  Like I said, I’m not binging and if I really focus I think I’ll be able to climb back up the ladder and stop eating more than 600 calories altogether.

My therapist is going to try ”breathing exercises” and some kind of hypnosis on me next week to try to stop me from binging.  I don’t particularly know how I feel about the hypnosis.  However, it’s better than binging and throwing up all my food, and I’m willing to try pretty much anything to lose weight at this point.  He doesn’t know that he’s helping me restrict to 600 calories, though, probably better for him, and definitely better for me.  He also wants to put me on anti-anxiety medication.  I was pretty okay with this at first, because my anxiety level is extremely freaking high.  He then told me that side effects can be gaining weight, and I had to resist the urge to run out of the room.

Monday was the third time I’ve seen my therapist.  He said, “I know you don’t think you’re ugly, you just feel ugly.”  I quickly corrected him, which is something I shouldn’t have done.  “I do think I am ugly… I know I am ugly”.  I realized my mistake almost immediately.  His eyes almost popped out of his head, and he said I was gorgeous.  Haha, low cut shirts can make guys lie about anything.

Stay strong girls. 

Oh, and a P.S….
I am going to (hopefully) get a new post up within the next couple of hours on my thinspo blog.  I’ll add extra pictures since it’s been so long since I’ve posted. 

So, I was not looking forward to Thanksgiving in the first place… I made bread that did not rise enough and was a bit to “garlicee” and salty, the Pumpkin pie crust was great, but the filling a bit too spicy… However, people ate it
Anyway, I waited till about 5 to actually appear at my friends’ place. I did not think it could actually be fun, I really thought it would be horrible, boring and awkward, but it was good. The food and the games and the fun. BUT I binged and purged. I do not know why. I did not really eat too much there, but the piece of pie and the ice cream were a suboptimal idea at almost 12pm… I went home and binged… and purged… ridiculous. Why? I promised my nutritionist that if I would do that I would not work out at all during the entire weekend because it is too dangerous for me. But I eventually went running on Sunday and to the Gym as well… which could be acceptable if I hadn’t had another slip-up Saturday night and again. Ridiculous. I had a great day. It was a beautiful and sunny day. My friend’s friend took me out for a Harley ride and it was simply amazing. But home alone I slipped. I made pancakes and all… binged and purged the food I still had and wished again I had not done it.
It is so difficult to get away from it. I wished I never had this illness. I wished I was normal and had real problems… ruining my health is really self destructive and I am scared to die, because I am finally coming back to life. Which is painful, because it shows me how many people I have been hurting and lost to Bulimia.
I need a new start. Again. But again just tonight I slipped again. 3 times in 5 days. Wow. It’s been a while.
I think there are many factors:
a) stress
b) that professor
c) feelings about Cedar Springs
d) stuff I have to do (paperwork and such)
e) making decisions
f) friends (here and abroad)
g) alcohol/spendings = other addictions
h) men (the ones I am dating, the one I lost, me realizing that I can actually chose, that I do not have to take whoever shows interest, weird isn’t it?)
i) the future

–> I am simply scared and yes, b/p relieves me if even only for a little while.

And Yes, I want to quit, but it is just not as easy at it may sound.

I’m really resisting the urge to just suck it up and do a bullet point post. I promised myself that when I started this new shindig over here that I’d write actual paragraphs, all the time, since I consider myself a writer and writers should take what they want to say and expand a bit, instead of just throwing it down and running away. But you know what, sometimes real life gets in the way and we’re going to compromise since there are just not enough hours in the day.

#1: My sister had a birthday. It was her 23rd, which is odd because I still can’t believe that she’s of legal age to drink a glass of wine and sometimes I still can’t believe that she’s still not four years old and playing with her gazillion dolls. Luckily I was able to swing it that I could go down to UNC and visit her. I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to hang with those in the under 25 bracket and that I’d be calling it a night long before they were ready to turn in for the night, but her friends were amazing and fun and intelligent and classy and I had a blast. Plus, there’s nothing like curling up, semi-hungover, and watching Amelie and eating popcorn in bed with your favorite sister that you hardly ever get to see. I wish there was a way that could hang out more, but I don’t think that’s in the cards anytime soon, unfortunately.

#2: I went to a small presses conference at my old school where I listened to a bunch of authors talk about their process with their agents and editors, literary magazines talk about why you should submit to them, and other industry folks generally discussing over and over again how the system is fucked and no one can figure out how to fix it and that no one is making money. It was about as uplifting as it sounds. The good news is that I realized that despite the fact that for many many years I’ve wanted to be published by Penguin, I know know that I want a small press to publish me. It’s ridiculously important to me that I get to have say in things like fonts and papers and book jacket designs. Because my novel is about women, I know that the cover will be some torsos without heads or pastel or some other such nonsense and that will make me never want to publish again. Also, fun fact, most big publishers will always have the book come out in hardback first despite the fact that hardbacks are a tough sell for a first time author, and if they don’t sell, then they just turn the books into pulp and don’t publish you again. I’d much rather have a small press just do a few thousand paperbacks and then not turn my hard work into pulp. I’m not big on hardbacks, I generally think they’re difficult to read and hold and carrying them around with me all day is not fun. Bring on the paperbacks.

#3: We celebrated our 6 month anniversary. We celebrated by making dinner then falling into bed. I was in bed for twelve straight hours and when I had to get up to go to work the next day the last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed. I’ll leave it to your imagination how we passed that time. Then Thanksgiving was a quiet, intimate affair. It was just the two of us, and he was my sous-chef so that I could whip up a great dinner in about an hour. I’m really enjoying spending a lot of quality time with him before things like other jobs and kids and travel and life get in the way. Not that any of those things are close to happening, but I like our us time now.

Maybe in December I’ll do a better job keeping track of my life. Maybe not.

I broke my own rule. Granted it was awhile ago…but still. I bought a new gadget. Before leaving Seattle, I bought an iPod touch. I already had an iPod, an 80gig classic. I thought I would use the touch as a mobile wifi device, it has a bigger screen for watching movies etc…and fine, I’ll admit it, it was just cool.

Well I did use the touch on my flights to NY and on to Israel. But then I just started using it as a regular iPod, for music and podcasts. After a couple of weeks of trying to keep my podcasts synced between iTunes and 2 iPods I realized that I was going against my own life philosophy of Keep It Simple. I put out an email and the iPod was sold in 2 days (for a great price, they go for a premium here!) I am now happily carrying my classic to and from work, as well as docking it in it’s speakers when I’m home.

My question is this, does this count as buyers remorse like the netbook I wrote about previously? Or can I count this as simply a continuation of my purge since I bought it so long ago (~6 months)?

Whaddya think?

You really can’t blame the withering right-wing base of the Republican Party (as if anything but the withering right-wing base exists within the GOP) for feeling powerless and backed into a corner.  These conservative purists are completely inconsequential in the House, and as proven over the weekend with the landmark vote to move forward on the health care debate, they’re really quite weak in the Senate as well.  If they hadn’t overseen the destruction of this country’s middle class, economy, and international reputation, one would almost be inclined to feel sorry for these poor bastards.  Now, any decent political strategist within the Republican Party would undoubtedly want to focus on ways to grow the party, to bring in those moderates who agree on some but not all of the GOP’s platform (which has really been the key to establishing the Democratic Party’s supermajority status).  That’s the rational approach.  But people – especially Republicans – are not rational.

Instead, conservatives’ idea to make the party more successful is to make the party…well, even more conservative.  In a strategy almost as senseless and backasswards as trickle-down economics, the RNC is actually considering adopting a purity resolution.  In other words, fewer members = more members (which is just as logical as lower taxes = higher revenue).  If you thought the Salem-esque burning at the stake of Dede Scozzafava was entertaining, just you wait.  The Great Republican Purge has just begun.

The resolution is an eerie document that manages to include virtually every Republican wet dream, all in one place (talk about “big tent” conservatism).  It establishes ten planks of conservatism, ranging from opposition to “Obama-style government run health care” to support for “the retention of the Defense of Marriage Act,” and it makes clear that any GOP candidate straying from three or more of these core “conservative principles” will be denied funding by the RNC.  If that doesn’t scream “big tent,” I don’t know what does!  The resolution does this while at the same time decrying “Obama’s socialist agenda” and (intentionally, I’m sure) never once using the title “President” when referring to President Obama (though “President” preceded Ronald Reagan’s name without fail).

One must wonder, though, where these conservative principles came from.  Presumably, since the resolution is sprinkled with glorified references to Ronald Reagan, they came from him.  But when one actually looks back into the annals of history and researches the Reagan Administration (which conservative ideologues who masturbate to the “Tear Down This Wall” clip never do), one finds that the Gipper himself would not be considered a true Republican.  The RNC would actually have to deny funding to the very deity that conservatives cite as the one true voice of conservatism.  Let’s break it down:

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill.

On Ronald Reagan’s watch, despite the “small government” rhetoric spewing from his mouth, the federal government actually grew.  The myth that states otherwise is false.  Federal spending increased (mainly in the “defense” sector), and an entire new department was added to the executive branch.  Reagan’s illogical policies led to a fiscal nightmare.  Nobody can make the serious claim that Ronald Reagan shrank government or decreased spending.

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Ronald Reagan was a proponent of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing, denial of health care and government funding of abortion.

If one believes that a zygote is a “vulnerable person” (as conservative wingnuts do), Ronald Reagan’s record on the issue is not exactly stellar.  As the Governor of California, he signed the Therapeutic Abortion Act of 1967 (even Free Republic admits it);  as President, (again) despite rhetoric, he was not a champion for the anti-choice movement and really did nothing to advance the cause.

Way to go, RNC – you’re about to adopt purity standards that your purest conservative can’t even meet.  And, just as trickle-down theory decimated the economy, these purges of moderates will continue to keep the Republicans in a permanent fringe minority.

Not that I’m complaining.

The blogger, Kristofer Paul, can be reached at bottomleftpolitics@yahoo.com.