Guinea ‘opposition wounded’ turn to clandestine clinic
CONAKRY: In a dingy room reeking of blood and sweat in Guinea’s capital Conakry, a volunteer doctor treats a man with bullet wounds in his legs as he tries to suppress his groans. Hidden inside a gated compound a stone’s throw from the city centre, supporters of the West African state’s beleaguered political opposition treat men and boys they say were injured during raids by security forces.
Guinea has been rocked by huge protests since midOctober over fears that President Alpha Conde is seeking to use a referendum for a new constitution to stay in power. Protests have often turned violent, drawing rebukes for security forces from human rights groups over their use of force and alleged abuses. At least 31 people have died in the unrest to date, according to an AFP tally, including one gendarme.
Underscoring Guinea’s political polarization, many of
the deaths are thought to have occurred in Conakry opposition strongholds, where residents complain of routine harassment from security forces. “Some of the wounded are afraid to go to the hospitals,” said a doctor working in the makeshift clinic, whom AFP is not naming for security reasons. Residents of the wrong neighborhoods fear they will be turned away from hospitals, or that security forces will pursue them there.
So many of the injured attend the hidden clinic run by the FNDC, an alliance of opposition civil-society groups which rejects the new constitution. The clinic itself is rudimentary, consisting of one small, hot room run by volunteer medics. It treats about 50 people after every protest, leading FNDC member Ibrahima Diallo said. Outside the room, about a dozen mostly teenagers — wearing bandages and splints, some barely able to talk — sit on upholstered chairs on a shaded terrace.
AFP spoke to 12 men and boys receiving treatment at the clinic last week. All said they came from known opposition districts in Conakry and that they were targeted despite not taking part in protests. The interviews took place on March 1, two days after Conde postponed a referendum on his reforms after domestic and international criticism about the fairness of the vote. Following the postponement, on February 29, protests broke out in opposition districts along one of the city’s main thoroughfares, where from sidestreets, youths hurled rocks at riot-gearclad security forces.
It is unclear when the constitutional referendum will be held, although Conde has promised it will take place within two weeks of the original date of March 1. —AFP