Luis Moreno-Ocampo, ICC Prosecutor (Fuente: AP)
It looks like Captain Moussa Dadis Camara is done consuming his good days as head of the ailing State of Guinea. The good times when he publicly humiliated his aids, and was the daily hero of the “Dadis Show” seem to belong to a distant past, never to be relived again. In the space of three days the series of resignations from his ministers and other aids have made his government look like a burning house from which all roaches and other harmful bugs run away to safety. Footage of him shown on TV presents a beaten man, a sleepless drunkard desperately looking for something –a good reason- to hang onto power, to be vindicated.
Yet it appears that the International Criminal Court is looking at things from a completely different angle. According to the office of the ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, “A preliminary examination of the situation has been […] initiated in order to determine whether crimes falling under the Court’s jurisdiction have been perpetrated.” The investigation will practically address issues of public rape allegations and mass killings of unarmed protesters, all facts that have been clearly documented by pictures already distributed through the internet and other media outlets.
It becomes therefore clear that the CNDD is not but a sinking boat as the Deputy prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda herself, made the irrefutable statement that: “From the information we have received, from the pictures I have seen, women were abused or otherwise brutalized on the pitch of Conakry’s stadium, apparently by men in uniform.” She terms these committed crimes as “Appalling, unacceptable” before adding that “It should never happen again. Those responsible must be held accountable.” Facts being what they are, Camara has tried to distance himself from these crimes by alleging that he does not control the army. But last Wednesday in Addis Ababa the European Union’s aid chief, Karel De Gucht, was categorical on the issue: “The principal leader of the coup must be held accountable for his acts before a court for a crime against humanity. The 28 September repression has been the most brutal in the country and we have before us a serious case of a crime against humanity.”
Of course, the arrogance that characterizes the junta, the degrees of hate and disdain that its soldiers are showing toward the population and its predisposition to order or commit crimes at any occasion must have played a big role in the unshakable positions of the international community that has found no solution to the Guinean plight but to make sure that the junta serves as an example. “International justice must be universal, if not it loses its credibility,” said the European Commissioner Karel De Gutch.
As for Hillary Clinton, the American Secretary of State: “Guinea’s military rulers must quit;” a statement that has been welcomed by the Guinean “Forces Vives”. Until then, the Obama administration, beside an unyielding position of its representation in Conakry, had not been openly vocal against the junta; a relative silence that Dadis Camara himself had praised saying: “I thank President Obama for not criticizing me,” in an attempt to denigrate the US Embassy in Conakry. But now, that time seems also to belong to the past. Another blow that also contributed to shaking the CNDD was of course the decision by France to “cut military cooperation with Guinea,” and to abandon Dadis to himself. The International Contact Group on Guinea, whose members come from various international organizations, has also recommended the complete “withdrawal of the CNDD” and has called for “a new transitional authority in Guinea.” The African Union has given Dadis only until October 17th to openly make the statement that he will organize free and fair elections this coming January, and that he and other members of his government won’t be on the race.
The least one can say is: things look bad for Dadis Camara and the CNDD. Yet time is not to complacency. Still voices of denial are rising from Conakry. Andre Cece Loua, the Guinean Minister of foreign affairs lately argued that international forces can’t be sent into Guinea because it’s a sovereign country; an argument that does not hold as “Guinea has been a State Party to the Rome Statute since 14 July 2003,” meaning that crimes against humanity perpetrated in the country can well be prosecuted at the Hague by the ICC.
While waiting for what the ICC investigations will result to, Guineans have their eyes turned toward China who’s 7 Billion Blood Dollars contract with the junta raises eyebrows about the kind of relationship this rising China is ready to have with Guinea.
Mamadou Maladho Diallo
Correspondent of Le Lynx – La Lance in New York
Member of Alliance Guinea
