As reported by the BBC and other news outlets today, Guinea (that is to say, CNDD) mine minister Mahmoud Thiam announced that he had made a deal with a Chinese company ready to invest more than $7 billion in infrastructure in all mining projects across Guinea. Guinea has the world’s largest reserves of bauxite — needed to make aluminum — and also has considerable gold, diamond and iron deposits.

We knew that China – with the investments it had already made in Guinea, as it is doing across Africa – could be a stumbling block in unified international action against the junta, especially if a peace keeping or arms embargo resolution comes down to the UN Security Council. But today’s deal is simply an outrage – as rude an affront to human rights, justice, and human decency as one could imagine. Aside from the troubling symbolic nature of China recognizing the junta as a legitimate business partner, a great deal more troubling is how these funds will be used – and one can pretty much guarantee that very little of it will ever reach the Guinean people. Instead, they are much more likely to be destined for villas and brand new SUVs in the best case, arms and mercenaries in the worst case.

While we recognize that it will be very difficult for governments in America and France to pressure the Chinese out of this deal – especially if by a mostly private company – we urge the international community to condemn it and call for no further dealings in Guinea until there is a legitimate, civil government in Guinea with which to do business.

The meeting held last October 12 in Abuja shows  the huge interest on the Guinean issue at an international level.

The International Group on Guinea met in Abuja October 12. Following talks with Foreign Minister of Guinea and the Forum of the Forces vives of Guinea, the Group has taken a very strong inventory of measures to enable Guinea to take again its process of detransition.

We appreciate the involvement that the Group has shown and call now our partners in the implementation of decisions taken.

The Group demands that the de facto authorities in Guinea:

- Free all those who have been detained since September 28, give back the bodies of the victims to their families, allow all wounded persons in hospitals and outside, in particular raped women,  to freely receive medical care

-The Group urgently requests the United Nations Secretary General, in collaboration with ECOWAS and the African Union, and with the support of the High Commission for Human Rights, to facilitate the establishment of an international Commission of Inquiry to investigate the 28 September 2009 gross human rights violations , identify the culprits and prosecute them in the competent courts in Guinea or at the International Criminal Court.

- The adoption of individual sanctions that are targeted

- The sent by ECOWAS, in conjunction with its partners, of a civilian-military mission of observation and security

- The Group calls on the President of the CNDD to formalize not later than the deadline of 17 October 2009, fixed by the 204th meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council, his commitment that neither himself nor members of the CNDD nor the Prime Minister would contest the Presidential election, failing which the Group calls on the African Union and relevant regional and international organizations to take appropriate measures

- To that end, the Group expresses its full support for a political solution aimed at creating a new transitional authority, through dialogue if possible, and based on the withdrawal of the CNDD, and ensuring a short and peaceful transition marked by the conduct of credible, free and fair elections in which those holding key executive positions demonstrate total neutrality throughout the electoral process.

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A summit of Heads of State of the West African ECOWAS trade group on October 17^th in Abuja, Nigeria and a meeting of Heads of State of the African Union Peace and Security Council on October 29, 2009 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia are expected to produce significant progress towards a solution for the political crisis in Guinea. We are hoping for the continued support of the international community, in particular of our African friends, to reach a swift, peaceful and lasting solution to the crisis in Guinea

Following demands by the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on October 10th, and similar demands by the International Contact Group for Guinea on October 12^th, 2009, France and the United States called on the United Nations’ Secretary General to establish an international commission tasked with identifying those responsible for the massacre and prosecuting them in the competent courts.

France, specifically, called on its European partners to prepare to impose targeted individual sanctions (travel bans, freeze of financial assets) against members of the military junta.

To be continued…..