We know that in many places of the world, “freedom of expression” is nothing more than a myth. Just yesterday, Guinea presented an awful proof of the repression that governments tend to have over its people, especially in countries where democracy is an ideal more than something practiced by the nation.
Soldiers attacked a group of pro-democracy citizens at a peaceful rally, which were led by opposite parties concerned about the possible participation of Camara (current president of Guinea) in the next elections. Fire was open, civilians were shot, some others were injured and stabbed; some women were stripped and sexually assaulted. What a shameful assault to human rights that is! If I could only express my disgust with every adjective, of every language and dialect in Earth, I would certainly do it, really! And as people shivers at the pure thought of the savage incident, the Guinean government claims the civilians were the ones who acted violently and that most of the registered deaths were caused by suffocation in the crowd, not because of the troops’ movements.
Institutions and organizations’ eyes instantly posed on the cruel event and they didn’t hesitate to demonstrate their disapproval by condemning the political decision of the Guinean government. It was obviously a very impulsive, unwise action that both ended up harming and injecting fear into its population, as well as damaging the country’s international relationships. Human Rights Watch, the African Union, as well as the European Union deeply criticized the tragedy. France decided to suspend their military ties with its ex-colony and asked Camara to stand aside from the elections. There will soon be a meeting (perhaps tomorrow) at a European Union level, to discuss what other processes should be initiated regarding Guinea’s attitude.
Democracy may not be clear in sight and it will never come to be realized if there is no real dialogue between the government and the people. The country certainly needs to instil respect in both sides in addition to mutual commitment for development that will hopefully and finally lead to a more stable future.
Information:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/09/29/guinea.protest.deaths/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jQywgWN9zGdcetoy3lieT2LxnYEA
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1926659,00.html
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4741000,00.html?maca=en-en_nr-1893-xml-atom
