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img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/AFR/guinea-conakry-bullet-100.jpg alt= title= /br/Guinea’s security forces are continuing to arrest and harass activists and others, following a massacre during a political protest on 28 September, Amnesty International found during a recent visit to Guinea. br /
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Mouctar Diallo, vice-president of Guinea’s national human rights commission, was arrested on 26 November. Amnesty International discovered that Diallo is being detained in military Camp Alpha Yaya, for quot;endangering the security of the statequot;. br /
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The Amnesty International delegation, that returned from Guinea on Tuesday, also found cases of over 40 people who attended the rally and whose whereabouts are still unknown. This includes dead bodies that were identified in photographs and film footage taken at the stadium but were not subsequently found at any of Conakryrsquo;s hospitals, morgues, mosques or military camps including Camp Alpha Yaya Diallo. br /
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The whereabouts of others who attended the rally is now unknown. Amnesty International fears that they may have been killed or subjected to enforced disappearance. br /
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The official death toll from the protest at Conakry’s stadium is given as 58 people but human rights organizations report that at least 157 people died. br /
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Amnesty International has also uncovered fresh evidence about disturbing levels of sexual violence during the massacre. br /
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Over 30 women told Amnesty International they were raped during the events of 28 September. Medical records gathered from Conakry’s Donka hospital indicate that at least 32 female participants in the rally showed evidence of being raped. br /
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One woman recalled seeing her friend attacked by five members of the quot;red beretsquot; ndash; the Presidential Guard: quot;They ripped off her clothes with a bayonet, pinned her to the ground and raped her. They then fired a bullet into her vagina.quot; br /
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Several women interviewed by the delegation said they had been arrested by quot;red beretsquot; soldiers at the demonstration and then held for over five days, during which time they were drugged, beaten and repeatedly raped while being filmed with mobile telephones. br /
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quot;A climate of fear continues in Guinea. The authorities can no longer turn a blind eye to the human rights violations committed by its security forces,quot; said Gaetan Mootoo of Amnesty International. br /
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quot;The authorities must fully support the efforts of the UN’s International Commission of Inquiry and ensure the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice.quot; br /
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Amnesty international discovered that the security forces are also clamping down on any potential internal dissent within the military.nbsp; nbsp;br /
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The delegation learned that eight military officers have been arrested since the events of 28 September and remain in detention on Ile de Kassa, an island outside of Conakry. br /
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strongInternational military assistance /strongbr /
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Amnesty International has gathered information about international military assistance and training provided to specific units of Guinea’s regular military and security forces involved in the 28 September violence, and is concerned that such assistance may have ignored and failed to address the past human violations committed by these units. br /
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The assistance includes combat training provided by the government of China since at least 2006 to members of battalions within the Presidential Guard. Technical assistance in the training and organisation of up to 4000 new recruits of the Gendarmerie Nationale was also provided since 2008 by the government of France. Members of both the quot;red beretsquot; and Gendarmerie Nationale units were present at Conakry stadium on 28 September. France has suspended military cooperation with Guinea since 28 September. br /
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Amnesty International also saw 60 Kalashnikov-type cartridge cases gathered from Conakry stadium and two other locations in Conakry ndash; in Kosa and Ratoma – following the 28 September violence. Nearly 20 per cent of these appear to have been manufactured in 2006 and 2008, indicating recent ammunition supplies to Guinearsquo;s security forces despite repeated unlawful killings and the excessive use of force since 1998. br /
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quot;The 28 September massacre and its aftermath is the latest example of a decade-long record of human rights violations by the security forces.quot; said Gaetan Mootoo. quot;Governments must immediately stop any support given to the Guinea security forces that could facilitate further violations.quot; br /
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Amnesty International has also learned that the Guinean government has recently approached the government of Morocco for assistance in restructuring their armed forces. Any programme of security sector reform must be transparent and address impunity for past violations and operationalize human rights law. br /
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strongTraining camps for militia group members /strongbr /
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The delegation found evidence of militia groups operating alongside governments forces but outside formal military and police structures. Many demonstrators present at the stadium provided consistent accounts of the presence of significant numbers of civilian-dressed men working with the security forces, armed with knives and other weapons. br /
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The organisation has received information about the recruitment and training up to two thousand young men in two camps to the south-east of Conakry, as well as reports of organised gatherings and recruitment of youths in the Kaporo suburb of Conakry itself. This activity appears to have begun around August 2009 and is now being carried out partly by foreign trainers in the camps outside Conakry.

Amnesty International has called on all states to suspend international supplies of military and police weaponry, munitions and other equipment that could be used to commit human rights violations by Guinean security forces. br /
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The organisation is also calling for an international commission of inquiry to investigate the human rights violations carried out last week in Conakry, in which more than 150 people are thought to have been killed. br /
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ldquo;The transfer of such supplies should stop until the Guinean government has taken steps to prevent these violations from recurring, and has brought to justice those responsible for the brutal attacks last week,rdquo; said Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty Internationalrsquo;s Africa Programme. br /
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The call came as new information emerges about international supplies of South African and French weapons and equipment used by Guinean police and security forces during the past week. br /
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On 6 October Amnesty International raised the issue of irresponsible arms supplies to Guinea at a meeting in thenbsp; United Nations for delegates of the UN General Assembly.nbsp; Brian Wood, Amnesty International’s Control Arms Manager, said: ldquo;ldquo;Arms transfers of the kind we see used for grave human rights violations in Guinea and elsewhere could all be prevented if the UN negotiations can establish an effective Arms Trade Treaty, with a legally-binding human rights risk assessment rule.rdquo; br /
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Amnesty Internationalnbsp; is calling on this month’s UN General Assembly to begin without delay a process of formal negotiations for an international Arms Trade Treaty with a strong rule on human rights.nbsp; nbsp;br /
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Press photos of Guinean police officers taken in Conakry on 1 October show them carrying what appear to be 56mm ‘Cougar’ grenade launchers. br /
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These grenade launchers, made in France, are designed to fire tear gas and kinetic impact grenades also produced by the same French manufacturer. br /
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Guinean security forces were also photographed on 1 October patrolling Conakry in a Mamba armoured personnel carrier (APC). Ten Mamba APCs were sold to Guinea in 2003 by a South Africa-based subsidiary of a UK company, whose spokesperson stated at that time that these vehicles would be used for ldquo;border controlrdquo; in Guinea. Amnesty International has documented the use of Mamba vehicles in Conakry in January 2007 to drive into crowds of peaceful demonstrators while firing at them. br /
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Amnesty International has received information from the French government in the last week indicating that it has authorised the supply of tear gas and other anti-riot grenades to Guinean security forces in recent years, despite Guinean security forces having used these kinds of munitions in persistent serious human rights violations since 1998. Demonstrators and eyewitnesses described to Amnesty International the use of tear gas grenades, alongside live small arms ammunition, against demonstrators gathered in Conakry stadium on 28 September.. br /
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France exported 500 unspecified anti-riot grenades to the Guinean Ministry of Interior during 2006, and in 2008 issued a further pre-export authorisation [agreacute;ment preacute;alable] for the sale to the Guinean Ministry of Interior of stun grenades and 56mm GM-2L tear gas grenades, specifically designed for the launchers seen with Guinean security forces in recent days. br /
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It is not known whether this latest sale has yet received final export authorisation. On 29 September, the French government announced the suspension of military cooperation with Guinea. Amnesty International welcomes this suspension, and urges France and other states to ensure that the suspension includes the supply of military and police weapons, munitions and equipment. br /
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ldquo;These kinds of munitions have been persistently used in serious human rights violations ndash; including unlawful killings, the grossly excessive use of force, and sexual violence ndash; during a decade of violent repression by Guinean security forces,rdquo; said Erwin van der Borght. br /

Amnesty International has revealed details of the brutal attacks committed by security forces in Guinea, during the suppression of a mass rally in Conakry on Monday, and the extent to which the violence was organized by the army.br /
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Eyewitnesses told the human rights organization that several women were publicly raped by soldiers, including quot;red beretsquot; – the Presidential Guard. Sources revealed to Amnesty International that many of the victims were killed by the Guinean security forces, who were deliberately quot;shooting to killquot;.br /
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One source told Amnesty International: quot;I saw bodies hit in the chest and head, some were shot in the back. Many were hit at close range.quot;br /
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One of the demonstrators told Amnesty International: quot;The soldiers ripped the skirts off the women, leaving them naked. They hit them with truncheons and Kalashnikovs. I saw two soldiers throw a woman on to the ground and publicly rape her in view of the demonstrators. I was afraid. I saw a soldier rape a naked woman with his truncheon.quot; Another witness added that he saw a soldier pouring beer on a woman the soldier had just raped.br /
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According to several eyewitness statements gathered by Amnesty International, the attacks were organized by army officers. Witnesses said that several members of the Presidential Guard were present and supervised the repression. One of them told Amnesty International that these officers quot;pointed their fingers at the demonstrators and cried ’shoot them’.quot;br /
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Several witnesses reported the presence of a government minister among the security forces.br /
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One witness told Amnesty International: quot;A young person, aged about 18, wearing a Lacoste T-Shirt and blue jeans fell, other people trampled him underfoot, he tried to get up, he hit the ground and moved his head. A soldier asked for him to be ‘finished off’ and another soldier took out a dagger and cut his throat.quot;br /
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Amnesty International has called for an international commission of inquiry to investigate the human rights violations carried out in Conakry.br /
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The organization also called for an immediate halt to all supplies of security and police equipment to the Guinean government that could be used to commit serious human rights violations until the Guinean government has taken practical steps to prevent such violations by the security forces and has brought to justice those responsible for these acts.br /
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One demonstrator told Amnesty International: quot;The crowd had already entered the stadium. People were assembled on the steps. Soldiers including ‘red berets’, gendarmes and police officers surrounded the stadium, then small groups of the security forces entered the stadium. They threw tear gas grenades and, hardly ten minutes later, they fired live rounds at the demonstrators, aiming initially at those right in front of them on the pitch.quot;br /
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Amnesty International has also learned that some people, including women, were arrested during the demonstration and are still being held by the security forces. The organization has expressed its concern that these detainees may by subjected to ill-treatment.br /
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quot;The perpetrators of these brutal attacks must be identified and brought to justice,quot; said Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme. quot;This can only be achieved through an international enquiry as the Guinean authorities have already been discredited by their lack of political will to carry out a national investigation into accusations of human rights violations by security forces in 2007.quot;