State Department discussion: Continued guarded optimism but real need for very close monitoring

On May 20, Alliance Guinea participated in the roundtable called by the US State Department, represented by Steering Committee Members Alhoussaine Bah and Doussou Conde Sanoh.

After welcoming every participant, US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson gave a summary of the situation in Guinea. He started by the case of chief of the CNDD Moussa Daddis Camara who is still in Ouagadougou, and then commented on the optimism of Guineans to have free and fair presidential elections on June 27, 2010.

There were many important participants in the roundtable such as the representative of the UNDP, Ms Priya Gajraj; US State Department Desk officer for Niger and Guinea, Jane Dennison; Abigal Wilson and Almami Cyllah of the UN NGO IFES, and Laurent Bertin of Action Guinea. Most gave their point of view of the situation in Conakry. It is interesting to note that Alliance Guinea and Action Guinea representatives were the only Guineans present at the meeting, and our interventions appeared to have been greatly appreciated by the other attendees and the State Department.

In particular, the Alliance Guinea representatives expressed our concern about the Guinean elections on June 27.  While recent positive developments on ground give us reason to be optimistic, we expressed that there is a serious risk of violence if there is not transparency.  We shared the following points of view from our members:

The CENI and the government must do their best to have free and fair elections. To help these efforts:

1. Every party should emphasize their own non-violence during and after the election.
2. Every party should prepare their supporters to accept the result.
3. The government should assure the security of the population and the election during the campaign and after – and should continue to pursue the participation of ECOWAS observers in this effort, as mandated by the Ouagadougou Accords.
4. Election support funds flowing through the NGO IFES should support private media coverage of the elections in addition to public media.
5. The international community should support and congratulate the winner as soon they announce the results.
6. Immediately after inauguration of the new president, the international committee must emphasize the need to address concerns of justice and the prosecution of suspected perpetrators of the September 28 massacre, related crimes and previous human rights abuses that have consistently been met with complete impunity.

Alhoussaine Bah, Alliance Guinea

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