Guinea - February 2023

On 15 February, a demonstration against the slow pace of a transition to civilian government in Guinea’s capital Conakry was met with violence. (In late 2022 the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and junta leaders agreed on a 24-month process that began in January 2023.) After demonstrators blockaded several roads and pelted police with stones, security forces responded with tear gas and gunfire. Two young men, aged 16 and 18, were killed by gunshots. Dozens of others were injured, and as many as 47 people were reported to have been arrested. The country is in the early stages of a transition to civilian government that is planned to last until January 2025. The military junta has banned all protests in the country from May 2022 until an electoral process begins.

Sources: Reuters, Radio France Internationale, Africanews, Voice of America