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Former Guinean President Alpha Conde to be prosecuted for murder

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The Guinean military government says it will prosecute former President Alpha Conde for murder and other crimes against humanity during his time in office, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Conde who was toppled in a military coup in September 2021, is among 27 former senior officials who face prosecution for “murder, assassination and complicity,” according to the government official in a document given to journalists by prosecutor Alphonse Charles Wright.

He has also been charged with other crimes including illegal detention of opposition figures, torture, kidnapping, disappearances, rape and other sexual abuse and looting carried out by soldiers and government officials during his regime.

Others indicted and earmarked for prosecution include a former president of the constitutional court, ex-speakers of parliament, a former prime minister and many former ministers, legislators and heads of the security services.

Wright who was appointed by the Guinean junta said the prosecution was launched following a complaint filed in January by the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), an umbrella group that had spearheaded previous protests against Conde.

The 84-year-old Conde was ousted by mutinous soldiers last year amid anger at his unsuccessful bid for a third term instead of the constitutionally lower two terms.

He was the first democratically elected president in the history of the West African country in 2010 but his popularity nosedived in his second term as critics accused him of authoritarianism, while opposition protests were violently repressed, with dozens killed by security forces loyal to Conde.

He was overthrown on September 5, 2021, by army officers led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, a former special forces commander.

Since Conde’s ousting, Doumbouya has been sworn in as interim president and implemented a crackdown on alleged corruption by the former regime with a vow to prosecute members of Conde’s cabinet.

Politics

Coup: Regional bloc, ECOWAS might intervene in Sierra Leone ‘if need be’

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Amidst a wave of military coups in the West African sub-region, a delegation of the ECOWAS Commission has hinted at likely bloc intervention in Sierra Leone following a failed coup over the weekend.

A chief of the commission and officials of the Nigerian government were received by Sierra Leone’s President, Julius Maada Bio, after Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the head of the 15-member sub-regional bloc, sent a message to Bio through Omar Alieu Touray, the head of the Ecowas Commission.

Gunmen last week exchanged fire for several hours with security forces in what the government attributed to “renegade soldiers.” Meanwhile, the police promised a “reward” to anyone providing information leading to the capture of 34 suspected fugitives.

“ECOWAS is ready and committed to supporting the people of Sierra Leone, including to strengthen their national security and the deployment, if need be, of regional elements,” Touray said.

The visit by the envoys appears to be a show of support for the government of Sierra Leone in the wake of the fatal attack that rocked the country’s capital, Freetown, on Sunday.

ECOWAS commended Bio’s and his government’s leadership in putting an end to what he described as a “very unfortunate incident.”

Concern has been raised by the wave of coups that have swept through Africa in the last three years, particularly in the West African bloc. The bloc has seen military takeovers of democratically elected governments in 2023 in Niger and Gabon, where troops removed Mohamed Bazzoum and Ali Bongo, respectively.

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Another Tunisian opposition leader, Moussi begins hunger strike in prison

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Another Tunisian opposition leader, Abir Moussi has begun a hunger strike in prison to protest what her lawyers described as a violation of her rights to freedom and political activity.

Moussi, who is a prominent opponent of Tunisian President, Kais Saied, was last month sentenced after police arrested her at the presidential palace entrance on suspicion of assault intended to cause chaos, viewed as part of a crackdown on opposition politicians by some watchers.

In a statement, her party, the Free Constitutional Party (PDL), cautioned against “attempts to fabricate legal obstacles to remove her from participating in the presidential elections” that are anticipated to take place the following year.

In a statement, her attorneys said that Moussi would go on a 16-day hunger strike to draw attention to the issue of violence against women in Tunisia. She is an advocate of the late president Zine El Abidine ben Ali, whose overthrow in 2011 was brought about by widespread demonstrations; an uprising subsequently extended throughout the Middle East, dubbed “the Arab Spring”.

In a similar move in September, embattled Tunisian opposition leader, Rached Ghannouchi, who has been a political prisoner since April, also threatened to begin a hunger strike in captivity.

Moussi faces charges of plotting against state security alongside other opposition figures who are in jail. She had accused Saied of staging a coup in order to close the elected parliament and impose rule by decree.

President Saied has been accused of suppressing dissenting voices in the nation since taking office. This year, the police has detained over 20 political figures, including Ghannouchi, on suspicion of trying to compromise national security.

More than 20 prominent politicians have been detained by police this year; some are a accused of being involved in plots against state security. “Terrorists, traitors, and criminals” is how Saied has characterised the people under arrest.

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