African civil society groups demand independent probe into Guinea mass grave

A group of 20 African civil society organisations has called for an independent investigation into the discovery of six unidentified bodies in a mass grave in Guinea.

The call on Sunday came after local men gathering firewood stumbled upon the six male bodies in the village of Alassoya in Lower Guinea’s Forecariah administrative prefecture on August 24.

The bodies were found bound and blindfolded.

Guinea’s Armed Forces have confirmed the discovery.

The NGOs included the Afrikajom Centre and several branches of the Tournons La Page (TLP), an organisation that unites citizens’ movements across a dozen African countries.

They demanded that “all hypotheses be examined as part of an independent, impartial and transparent investigation”. They also called for the investigation to be conducted “with the support of national and international forensic experts in order to formally identify the victims”.

The groups said the discovery of the mass grave comes on top of “at least 35 cases of enforced disappearances documented by TLP-Guinea since September 5, 2021”.

They added that the circumstances in which the bodies were found “raise fears that the victims may have been subjected to extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions”.

Guinea’s Armed Forces have promised an inquiry.

The military said in a statement that the six bodies have been transported to the hospital in Forecariah “to proceed with identification and, if possible, determine the circumstances of their deaths”.

It added that “all measures were being taken to shed light” on the discovery and stated that “investigation results will be made public”.

The discovery comes amid a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent in Guinea following General Mamady Doumbouya’s seizure of power in a coup in 2021.

Since the power grab, several political parties have been suspended and protests suppressed, while numerous opposition and civil society leaders have been arrested, sentenced, or forced into exile.

Civil society groups have also documented cases of opposition activists being abducted or disappearing under the military government.

France has also called on Guinean authorities to conduct a transparent and independent investigation into the mass grave, according to Africanews, a news outlet based in the French city of Lyon.

Africanews said another mass grave was found in the same region of Guinea last year, but investigations have yet to determine the identities of the victims or their causes of death.