Tamba Jean-Matthew
11 October 2009
Dakar — Guinean opposition political parties have rejected the unity government offer by the ruling military junta.
The opposition, under the umbrella outfit, Forces Vives, however, accepted the call by the junta leader for the establishment of a commission to identify and punish all those responsible for the last month's mayhem in Conakry that left 200 civilians dead.
The junta leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, says that those to be roped in for the massacre could as well be civilian organisers of the protest rally, which, he said, was illegal.
The officials of the Forces Vives said that whereas they welcomed the investigation into the killings, they were "not prepared to dialogue with a criminal regime" that continues to "terrorise" civilians.
"Dadis is bent on hoodwinking the local and international community with lies and false promises and this will stop or else we will not relent in our struggle," the opposition said during an interview with the foreign media.
The opposition officials further vowed not to relent until the leader of the military regime rescinded his decision to run for the presidency during the February elections.
Nancy Palus/IRIN
Billboard of Guinea's junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara
Capt Camara early on Thursday announced that his regime was prepared to receive a prominent African head of state to broker an agreement between the military and the civilian politicians.
The junta leader said the proposed government of national unity will, among other things, facilitate a transition by supervising the running of the affairs of the country to the holding of a free and fair presidential election.
But the Forces Vives argued that accepting the offer would mean justifying the raison-d'etre of a "criminal regime".
Also on Thursday, the head of the Africa Office of the Reporters Without Borders, Mr Ambroise Pierre, called on the junta to provide protection for two Guinean journalists, Mactar Ba and Amadou Diallo, who are being pursued by junta soldiers for allegedly "selling Guinea negatively to the outside world".
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