Conakry paralyzed.

The Guinean capital is at a standstill, Monday February 26, for the first day of an unlimited general strike launched by the union centers of the public, private and informal sectors of the country?

It serves as a test for the junta in power since 2021, which prohibits all demonstrations and muzzles the opposition. 

This movement aims to obtain a reduction in the prices of basic foodstuffs, an end to media censorship and the release of a press unionist.

It received the support of major political parties and most civil society organizations. 

This mobilization is launched in a climate of growing social tension and in the absence of a government, since the junta unexpectedly announced its dissolution a week ago without giving the reasons, but by ordering the freezing of the bank accounts of its members and the seizure of their passports. 

See also Guinea: mixed reactions in Conakry after the dissolution of the government

The slogan was followed.

Conakry looks like a dead city Monday morning.

The roads, usually crowded, are empty.

Banks, schools, shops are closed.

Administrations and hospitals offer a minimum service, noted an AFP correspondent. 

The large Madina market, the economic heart of Conakry, is deserted.

Since Sunday evening, young people have installed barricades on certain main roads.

The police presence remains discreet in the middle of the day. 

“Almost everything is closed”

“This strike is welcome, it will force the authorities to understand that they are not Gods on earth,” declared an executive from a ministry who requested anonymity.

“I am on strike because the Guinean is sick of the suffering artificially created and maintained by our leaders,” he added. 

“It’s sad what we’re seeing this morning, I’ve never seen Conakry so calm, deserted. Everything or almost everything is closed,” observes Amadou Keïta, security guard in front of a bank. 

The protest has become exceptional under General Mamady Doumbouya, today at the head of this country, one of the least developed in the world despite its natural resources. 

General Doumbouya has not spoken since the start of 2024, despite a tense context aggravated in the capital by an explosion and a deadly fire in the country's main hydrocarbon depot at the end of December, which paralyzed Guinea for several weeks. 

The junta banned all demonstrations.

It repressed the opposition, which was largely reduced to impotence.  

Press unionist in prison

The ruling military has also recently cracked down on a number of media outlets by removing television channels from the main distribution packages and jamming radio frequencies, provoking angry demonstrations, particularly from journalists. 

One of them, Sekou Jamal Pendessa, secretary general of the Union of Press Professionals of Guinea (SPPG), was sentenced on February 23 to six months in prison, three suspended.

The unions are demanding his release, along with the NGO Reporters Without Borders. 

#Guinea: the SG of the main press union Sékou Jamal Pendessa sentenced to 6 months in prison, 3 of which are closed for wanting to defend the right to information in the face of restrictions.

RSF denounces a terrible blow to press freedom and calls for his immediate release.

pic.twitter.com/vRUf0C0ikI

— RSF (@RSF_inter) February 23, 2024

The end of Internet access restrictions imposed for three months was one of the other union demands.

They were lifted during the night of Thursday and Friday. 

The junta agreed, under international pressure, to announce that it would return the place to elected civilians by the end of 2024, time, it said, to carry out profound reforms.

On Sunday, the Community of West African States announced the lifting of economic sanctions against Guinea. 

In January-February 2007, the unions orchestrated well-attended general strikes.

The repression of this historic protest against corruption and government interference in justice under the authoritarian regime of President Lansana Conté left 186 dead according to NGOs. 

With AFP 

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