Guinea's reconciliation blocked by violent past

Guinea's new President Alpha Conde National reconcilation promised by Guinea's new President Alpha Conde will be an uphill process in a nation scarred by half a century of political and ethnic killings, observers say. Conde, long in opposition before being elected six months ago to run the west African country, has vowed to unite Guinea's patchwork of ethnic groups but sceptics point to major obstacles.
"There is not just economic under-development in Guinea, there is also mental under-development," said Mamadou Bhoye Barry, leader of the opposition Union for National Progress (UPN).
This manifested in hostile "ethnic divisions", according to Barry, who said Conde's promise to push reconcilation after his election last November "is not being carried out on the ground, though the will is there."
There are about 30 ethnic groups in the country, with the main ones the Malinkes, the Peuls, the Soussous and the Guerzes.
The dictatorships and military juntas that ruled from independence from France in 1958 until last year's election often used ethnic divisions to strengthen their hold on power, at the cost of scores of thousands of lives.
"People look at each other with mistrust," said Fode Marega, president of the Association of Victims of Camp Boiro (AVCB).
The camp is a military base in the capital Conakry where tens of thousands of people seen as being in opposition were tortured and executed under the iron rule of Sekou Toure from 1958 to 1984.
"Ethnic stigmatisation means that we are on the edge of social collapse," he added.
Each political party has an ethnic base. Though the 2010 election was a democratic first, it was marred by clashes between supporters of Conde, who is a Malinke, and his rival Cellou Dalein Diallo, who is a Peul.
"The first thing Conde should do is undertake a tour of the interior of the country to go and see his population and incite people to forgive one another," suggested Barry. "This is imperative."
Conde has announced that he plans to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission tasked with shedding light on the unpunished crimes committed by successive regimes.
The bloodiest period was under Sekou Toure, the "father of the nation", who oversaw between 50,000 and 100,000 deaths, according to survivors of the camps and rights groups.
General Lansana Conte (1984-2008) and the junta led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara (late 2008 to late 2009) are also accused of massacres and other atrocities.
Early in 2007 Conte's security forces put down a popular uprising at the cost of about 200 lives in Conakry; Camara's men killed at least 150 anti-junta protestors in a massacre on September 28, 2009 in a stadium in the capital. Some of the troops also raped women.
Marega said he was sceptical about Conde's plans for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission because members of the old guard under Conte were "negative forces around him", dissuading the head of state.
"We think he has changed," Marega said.
"Now he's asking if the executioners will give evidence and whether the victims will agree to forgive," added Marega, whose father was executed under Sekou Toure.
He said he was astonished not to have been consulted by the president, recalling that Conde himself was condemned to death in his absence by Sekou Toure. "He isn't dead because he was in exile, but he has a duty to remember those who died," he said.
In Marega's eyes, "Guinea's problem is impunity." This explained why the security forces again opened fire with live ammunition on April 3, killing one of the supporters of Cellou Dalein Diallo, he said.
"If there is no justice for the victims, Guinea will never recover," Marega stated, adding that "the painful times we have lived through should not divide us, but should enable us to get closer together."