Two youths were shot dead and others injured Monday as Guinea's capital was paralysed on the first day of an open-ended general strike to end media censorship. This is seen as a key test for the junta that seized power in 2021 and dissolved the transitional government last week.
A confederation of trade unions has urged public and private sector workers to strike for the release of a prominent media activist,.
The strike comes a week after the military junta unexpectedly dissolved the transitional government – which had been in office since July 2022 – without providing a reason.
The junta also ordered government members' passports to be seized and their bank accounts frozen.
Schools, shops, markets and roads were empty early Monday in Conakry and hospitals only offered skeletal services as youths set up barricades on arterial thoroughfares.
Sporadic clashes broke out in some outskirts and two young men were shot dead. A dozen other people were injured.
"They killed our son, they targeted him and shot him in the neck," Adama Keita, a relative of an 18-year-old who was caught up in clashes with security forces, told French news agency AFP.
This was confirmed by a witness and a police source.
Another young man died elsewhere in similar circumstances, a doctor at the hospital where he died told AFP.
Crackdown
Protests have become rare under junta leader General Mamady Doumbouya, who stormed the presidential palace with soldiers and overthrew civilian president Alpha Conde in September 2021.
The military leaders banned all demonstrations in 2022 and have arrested a number of opposition leaders, civil society members and the press.
Television channels have been removed and radio frequencies disrupted in a crackdown on media outlets.
The unions have called for the immediate and unconditional release of Sekou Jamal Pendessa, secretary general of the Union of Press Professionals of Guinea (SPPG), who was arrested at the end of January for "participating in an unauthorised protest".
Pendessa was sentenced Friday for six months in prison, three of which were suspended.
Internet restrictions imposed three months ago were lifted last week, a day after the unions announced plans for the strike.
The resumption of internet access surprised many in Guinea and sparked a flurry of social media comments.
Suffering
Some government officials have backed the protest.
"This strike is welcome, it will force the authorities to understand that they are not gods on earth," a ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
"I'm on strike because Guineans are sick of the artificially created suffering, maintained by our leaders."
Amadou Diallo, Secretary General of the National Confederation of Workers of Guinea (CNTG) hopes that the authorities have received the message.
"I congratulate all the professional trade union centers which are affiliated with the Guinean trade union movement for observing this strike nationwide," he told RFI's correspondent.
Guinea, a West African country of about 14 million people, is among several countries in the region to have seen coups since 2020, along with Mali, Burkina Faso, and this year Niger and Gabon.
Mineral-rich Guinea has endured decades of dictatorial rule after independence from France in 1968. Fierce repression of union strikes in 2007 under former president Lansana Conte left 186 dead, according to NGOs.
Under international pressure, the junta has promised to hand the reins of government back to elected civilians by the end of 2024.
(with AFP)
