Guinea: controversy over the care of the wounded during the demonstrations

Text by: RFI Follow

The controversy rises around the wounded during the demonstrations organized each week by the FNDC, which tries to mobilize the citizens against the project of reform of the Constitution. A project that would pave the way for a possible third term of Alpha Condé.

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Are the wounded from the protests taken care of in time? And under what conditions ? In recent days, the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution has accused public hospital structures and the Guinean Red Cross of driving back the victims of violence from the demonstrations .

For the International Committee of the Red Cross " rescuing the victims is a priority ". But " the security guarantees are insufficient to carry out this work since [mid-October] ", ensures this humanitarian organization on its Twitter account. Result: ICRC teams no longer intervene during mobilization days.

We are closely monitoring the humanitarian situation in Guinea.

Our partner, the Guinean Red Cross, transported dozens of wounded during the protests in mid-October.

Unfortunately, the security guarantees are insufficient to carry out this work since then.

However, in recent weeks, FNDC actions have been more like “dead city” days. " Unofficially, the government has prohibited medical teams from operating on the ground without their approval, " said a human rights activist.

The government's " doubts "

" False ", retorts a source in the government, who refers to " draconian " measures introduced to better trace the identity of those who drop off the injured in hospitals ... The government expresses " serious doubts about the source of the bodies and the circumstances of their death, "said the source.

The director of the Ignace Deen hospital in Conakry rejects the FNDC accusations: " We are doctors and not politicians ", insists Dr Mohamed Awada. " We receive the bodies, " says the official.

For its part, the FNDC deplores 38 dead and several dozen injured ... The FNDC claims to have evacuated the wounded informally in private clinics since January. As for the victims, " they are buried without having undergone an autopsy, " said an activist from the FNDC.

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• Guinea

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