Guinean strongman sacks peace agreement prime minister

Republished from Friends of Guinea blog... with permission.

Guinean head of state Gen. Lansana Conté has fired Prime Minister Lansana Kouyaté and replaced him with Ahmed Tidiane Souaré, a former minister of mines and education and ally of the general.

The sacking of Kouyaté is noteworthy because the former diplomat was named head of government in order to bring an end to the 2007 general strike.

However, the BBC's correspondent in Conakry told Network Africa that one of the trade unions' leaders said the sacking of Kouyaté was not her problem and that labor would focus on what sort of people the new prime minister brought into the cabinet.

Public reaction to Kouyaté's sacking was generally muted, although protesters in his hometown of Kankan marched and burned tires.

Guinéenews reports that in Souaré's first public declaration, the new head of government would consult with Conté to form a government that would 'avoid exclusion.'

Kouyaté is the third prime minister in the last several years to be sacked or resign after a relatively brief time due to what many believe is the refusal of the clan surrounding Conté to cede any power to a reformist leader.

Guinean general strike to resume following executive power grab

Originally posted in Friends of Guinea's blog. Republished with permission.

There has been rioting in Guinea after the head of state Gen. Lansana Conté fired Communications Minister Justin Morel Jr.

Voice of America reported that Conté's New Years Day message attacked the government of Prime Minister Lansana Kouyaté, calling it a "disappointment."

However an analyst for the International Crisis group disagreed, saying that "[t]here has been some clear improvement in social services, water, electricity, and all these issues were really the core reason of the general strike and the massive demonstrations last year.".

Morel responded by telling state television that the words attributed to Conté were penned by extremists "nostalgic for a past that no longer exists."

Kouyaté and his cabinet were appointed after an agreement struck last year between Conté and labor unions in order to end a debilitating general strike.

Many inside Guinea are outraged by Morel's sacking by presidential decree, arguing that he was named minister via consensus and could only be sacked via the same method.

This is seen as only the latest move by the presidency to undermine Prime Minister Kouyaté's authority.

Last month, Conte signed a decree giving more control within the government to one of his closest allies, the presidency secretary-general, Sam Mamadi Soumah.

Guinéenews reported that Kouyaté's government threatened to resign if Conté's decree was not reversed.

Outraged by what it sees as Conté's betrayal of last year's deal and undermining of Kouyaté's authority, unions have called for a resumption of the nationwide general strike, starting on January 10.

"We are going to stage an unlimited general strike to force the government to respect these agreements," the secretary-general of the National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG), Rabiatou Serah Diallo, told a news conference.
Earlier a union leader told Reuters: "This is a serious violation of the agreement which ended last year's crisis."

Officially, union leaders did not end last year's general strike following the power-sharing deal, but only suspended it.

Praise for the new Guinean prime minister

Despite a gargantuan challenge, An article in the pan-African weekly Jeune Afrique gives high marks to the new Guinean prime minister Lansana Kouyaté. The former diplomat was named head of government after a nationwide general strike earlier this year which targeted the regime of the country's strongman Gen. Lansana Conté.

Kouyaté was given the enormous task of giving first aid to a sclerotique state and to run an economy that has been choked by the general and his mafia.

Ibrahima Diakité, head of the National Council of Civil Society Organizations said, "[Kouyaté] came to address the economic situation which had been seriously affected years of plunder and waste... at present, he hasn't been able to change the system in terms of the administration, but he has kicked out the old barons, ministers, governors and prefects."

Kouyaté himself added that basic services, particularly water and electricity, are in the process of being re-established in places that had been deprived on them for dozens of years.

Even unions, at the heart of the social movement of January and February, praised the steps taken by the new government.

A union official, under cover of anonymity, said that the new government was progressively beginning to 'make its mark.'

"The new government is the most transparent we've had for 20 years," he added.

While the implementation of reforms is taking a little longer than expected, the transformation of a system paralyzed by over a decade of dysfunction will not happen overnight.

Guinean insecurity forces a 'permanent menace' to the people

Amnesty International issued a report on the rampaging forces of disorder that caused mass bloodshed during the general strike in Guinea earlier this year.

Amnesty declared unambiguously that the Guinean insecurity forces represented 'a permanent menace for the population.'

The human rights' organization reported that authorities resort to the use of force against the population each time that the government feels threatened. The fact that no one has been held accountable shows clearly that the authorities, up to the highest level, have ignored these dealings and even encouraged them.

AI demanded that the government prevent the security forces from using excessive force against unarmed civilians and give material and juridical reparations the the families of the over 130 people killed and over 1500 wounded during the violent repression of mostly peaceful marches that occured in Guinea in January and February 2007.

It's long been an open secret in Guinea that the soldiers, gendarmes and particularly the presidential guard (red berets) are a law unto themselves. They are never held accountable for anything... unless of course they challenge the authority of head of state Lansana Conté and his cabal.

It is doubtful that the new consensus prime minister, Lansana Kouyaté, will have enough real power to hold these people to account. It's questionable whether even Gen. Conté has enough real authority to do so... even if he actually wanted to.


Update: The excellent Mafé Tiga blog opines on the recent appointment of new préfets and governors by Guinean Prime Minister Lansana Kouyaté.