/ 21 December 2009

Report blames junta leader for Guinea killings

The killing of more than 150 pro-democracy campaigners by soldiers in Guinea on September 28 amounted to a crime against humanity, according to a United Nations report quoted by French daily Le Monde on Monday.

The leaked report, which Le Monde said was handed in to the UN Security Council on Saturday, says the September 28 massacre of protesters in Conakry was directly attributable to the country’s top authorities, including junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara.

”The commission considers that there are sufficient grounds for presuming direct criminal responsibility by President Moussa Dadis Camara,” Le Monde‘s website quoted the report as saying.

Security forces are estimated to have killed more than 150 people when they opened fire on a crowd to prevent protesters holding a rally in a sports stadium in the Guinean capital.

Le Monde said the report, commissioned by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, described ”systematic” and ”organised” killings as well as acts of rape and torture against parts of the population.

It requested the International Court of Justice to take action against Camara and several others in his entourage for crimes against humanity, Le Monde said.

The report echoes a separate report issued last week by Human Rights Watch, also blaming Camara, who is currently in Morocco recovering from an assassination attempt by a soldier who was also implicated in the crackdown.

According to Le Monde, the UN report says that 156 people were confirmed as killed or disappeared since September 28 and at least 190 women and young girls had been raped or subjected to sexual mutilation. — Reuters