NGOs demand probe into 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, reports Al Jazeera. The call came after local men stumbled upon the six male bodies in the village of Alassoya on 24 August. The bodies were found bound and blindfolded. 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 5 September 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 discovery comes amid a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent in Guinea following General Mamady Doumbouya’s seizure of power in a coup in 2021. 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.

Full Al Jazeera report