Security forces blocked access to the center of the capital, Conakry, after shootings.
© APA/AFP/JOHN WESSELS
Eyewitnesses report that military weapons were also used. Security forces blocked access to the city center.
The one amid intense shootings in the capital of Guinea Conakry former dictator freed Moussa Dadi’s Chamber is back in prison a few hours after his supposed release. Camara was found safe and sound and taken back to prison, an army spokesman told AFP news agency on Saturday, without providing further details about the circumstances of his capture.
He had already been taken out of prison by armed men. However, it was initially unknown whether this was a release operation or whether Camara was released against his will.
Although the armed men acted as “liberators”, according to judicial information, Camara’s lawyer expressed the fear that the 58-year-old man had been kidnapped. According to several sources, in addition to Camara, two or three other men were released from prison. One of them, Moussa Tiegboro Camara, was also “recaptured”, according to his lawyer.
The action raised fears of a new coup. Camara held power in the West African country between 2008 and 2009. Under his rule, the military killed more than 150 people at an opposition rally in September 2009. Dozens of women were raped.
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The former dictator of Guinea, Moussa Dadis Camara.
© Image: APA/AFP/SEYLLOU DIALLO
Fierce exchanges of fire
Before the news of Camara’s release from prison, Conakry residents reported intense gunfire and security forces blocked access to the center of the capital. “There are shootings with automatic and military weapons,” witnesses told AFP. The district of Kaloum, the political and administrative center of the country, was affected.
In September 2021, official Mamady Doumbouya took power in Guinea, ending eleven years of civilian rule. This makes the country one of the West African states where a coup d’état has occurred since 2020, along with Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Gabon.
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Under international pressure, the military in Guinea agreed to hand over power to an elected government by the end of 2024. However, the opposition accuses the junta of having done nothing to prepare a peaceful transfer of power.
According to “faz.net”, heavily armed men attacked the detention center building in Conakry and shot at security staff. The intruders apparently managed to enter the prison. Camara managed to escape with several other people, including former ministers from his military regime, it was said.
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Captain Camara took power in a bloodless coup d’état on December 24, 2008, the day after the death of longtime president Lansana Conté. Originally, he wanted to organize free elections and then hand over power. However, he became a despot.
At the end of September 2009, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Conakry to demonstrate for Camara’s dismissal, reports “faz.net”. The army opened fire on the people. The United Nations spoke of 157 deaths. Almost a year after his coup, Camara was the victim of an assassination attempt in which he was seriously injured and was flown to Morocco for treatment. He left power in 2010. Camara was sentenced to prison in Guinea in 2022 for the massacre during his term as president.
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