Ailing Guinean junta leader and a handful of his colleagues are most likely be roped in by the UN backed International Criminal Court (ICC) for the charges of crimes against humanity as indicated by an international investigation commission over the September 28, 2009 mayhem in Conakry.
The UN-backed international commission which investigated the massacre and issued its finding last week to UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, laid responsibility on Moussa Dadis Camara, the leader of the military junta and a few of his colleagues including his renegade former body guard who attempted to assassinate him on December 3.
In its report, the commission observed that there was "a series of systematic killings, rape and acts of torture orhcestrated agianst a section of the population" on that fateful day.
It said there was "strong suspicion" that the crimes against humanity had been committed during the massacre which the commission said left a total of 156 dead, dozens of disappearances, hundreds seriously injured while over a hundred women were raped.
The incident stemmed from a stalled politico-military dialogue in the country following the junta leaders hypothetical declaration that he would take part in the presidential election in contrast to his earlier promise.
International outcry
Hence, the UN-backed commission which included mainly African experts from Algeria, Burundi and Mauritius, spent one month in Guinea to investigate the mayhem that triggered an international outcry followed by economic and political sanctions from France and the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) respectively.
The Commission consulted with victims of the incident, members of the junta, political and civil society organizations, the international rights groups in the country as well as with the local general public.
The Commission's report, according to Mr Ban, will be handed over to ICC's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.
A similar report last week by the Human Rights Watch, squarely laid the responsibilities of the mayhem on the junta leader and his renegade former body guard.
Although no date has been advanced by the ICC's chief prosecutor Lusi Moreno-Ocampo for it to make a pronouncement on the issue, it is widely believed that this will be during the first quarter of 2010.
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Unfortunately, the UN and the ICC are in the business of pressing the "universal" claims of European and American ideologies--instead of respecting non-Western values and other expressions of cultural diversity. They insist that African leaders accept the rules of Western-style democracy, and treat any deviations from this as criminal behavior.
The actions taken by the leadership in Guinea may offend Western sensibilities (and those of Western-educated Africans), but they are not unusual for Africa, and they are not "evil". The results of the UN investigation into the September killings and rape of last year are not unbiased--they come from the representatives of Algeria (a "white" country), Burundi ( a country currently controlled by Tutsi racists), and Mauritius (an Asian country). SubSaharan Africa needs to re-discover its own values and norms and defend these vigorously against the meddling of imperialists.
I lived in Guinea for a few years and it was my experience that, contrary what some of the disgraceful posters above claim, murder, public rape and savagery showed by the insecurity forces on Sept. 28, 2009 are most certainly NOT Guinean values. Guineans are mostly kind, warm, peace-loving people who are appalled by the savagery shown by the men in uniform. There's a reason nearly all Guineans want the CNDD butchers to leave power.
Being an apologist for this sort of sickening barbarism just to pump up your anti-imperialist credentials is nauseating. Did Africans really risk their lives and liberty to gain freedom only to replace one slavery master with another? When white soldiers in places like Sharpeville and Soweto committed bloody savagery, Africans and the world were rightly furious. Yet when black soldiers do the exact same thing, your anger ignores them. Have you no regard for those massacred in the State du 28 septembre? Do you think their families are concerned about your ideological rants blaming the west? Are you more interested in being anti-colonial or pro-human? Disgusting!
Although I'd prefer Dadis be released, alone and unarmed, into the Conakry marketplace. I think that sort of justice would be preferable: REAL popular sovereignty, not that of bloody dictators. But you know as well as I do that the military dictatorship will never allow real justice like that to happen. The west's fault too, no doubt.
How convenient it is for the so-called people of conscience, and by this, I am referring to the western world who feel that they and they only can define how "civilization" should be defined, interpreted and applied.
It is so easy for the so-called "champions" of democracy to demonize anything and everything African, and find the necessary conduit to continue with their superiority mentality, forgetting that civilization begun with Africa, from Africa, and by Africans. When Africans were practicing democracy at the grassroots level through our chieftaincy system, these europeans were living in caves eating raw meat, crawling on all fours and wearing the skins of the animals that they killed for food.
I can go on and on, but suffice to say I am appalled by the hollier-than-thou attitude that these europeans exhibit when it comes to Africa, when they conveniently ignore their own short-comings.
I did not sanction what happened in Guinea, but I also maintain that it is not the business of any power to meddle in the internal affairs of any country in Africa.
I also maintain that until George Bush II and Tony Blair are tried for genocide and crimes against humanity for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis that were killed and the many other hundreds of thousands that were maimed and whose lives are forever destroyed, the western world does not have the moral authority to pass judgement over anybody or any country in Africa.
Justice must be seen to be fair and not selective as is the yardstick that is applied when it comes to seeking justice for humanity.
I am equally appalled at the President of Burkina Faso for conveniently dancing to the tune of his masters. This same president that killed his friend Thomas Sankara and others in the hey days of the revolution in that country, and who has turned himself into a warlord selling arms to fan conflicts in Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and who has turned himself into a life-time President and willing to stay in power by any means necessary, now leads the crusade to hang other leaders in other African countries, dry.
The leaders in Guinea must resist any attempt to have the west divide their ranks, and they must not yield to any pressure from any quarters to hand over anybody for any trial.
I am sick and tired of being sick and tired by these so-called champions of democracy who are themselves the worst perpetuators of crimes against humanity.
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