International Criminal Court will investigate violence in Guinea

The International Criminal Court is conducting a 'preliminary investigation' into the deaths of Guinean citizens, as well as the raping of women, allegedly perpetrated by soldiers during a demonstration held in the capital of Conakry in late September.

The situation in Guinea's capital city, Conakry, continues to deteriorate even in the face of increasing international pressure on the Guinean government to investigate and resolve the events of September 28th. On Wednesday, the office of Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, said in a statement

"Guinea has been a State Party to the Rome Statute since 14 July 2003. As such the ICC has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide possibly committed in the territory of Guinea or by nationals of Guinea, including killings of civilians and sexual violence. The Office of the Prosecutor has taken due note of serious allegations surrounding the events of 28 September 2009 in Conakry and has received information relating to these events in accordance with article 15 of the Rome Statute. A preliminary examination of the situation has been immediately initiated in order to determine whether crimes falling under the Court’s jurisdiction have been perpetrated."

Camara has emphatically insisted that he is not responsible for the behaviour of the army during the protest on September 28, calling the army uncontrollable. Without apparent provocation, soldiers opened fire on some of the 50,000 people who had gathered in a stadium in Conakry. The soldiers also engaged in the violent rape of women, which horrified not only the country's citizens, but the world. The citizens had gathered to protest Camara's seeming intent to run in the 2010 elections. Camara seized power in late 2008 upon the death of the long-ruling dictator, Lasana Conte. There is a special meeting scheduled for Saturday of the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, Nigeria, to discuss

"political and security concerns in Nigeria and Guinea."

Camara had been given a deadline of 'mid-October' to announce he would not run in the upcoming January elections in Guinea, or else the country would face sanctions. Three Guinean cabinet ministers have resigned their posts this past week, saying they

"... cannot serve a government responsible for such violence."

First to resign was the Agriculture Minister, Abdourahmane Sanoh. His resignation was followed by those of the Information Minister, Justin Morel Jr., and the Labor Minister, Alpha Diallo. Morel's resignation letter said

"My conscience has remained tormented, my heart disturbed, and my sense of reasoning has told me that I no longer have any reason to continue to head this ministry and neither do I have the moral force to be the spokesman of the government after these horrible killings."

On October 12 and 13, thousands of Guineans staged a strike, refusing to go to work in protest of the deaths and rapes that took place on September 28th. Al Jazeera reports that the strike effectively shut down the city of Conakry during those two days. Citizens in other cities in Guinea supported the strike, participating in a "day of prayer" The government had imposed a ban against public protests, but lifted that ban late Thursday. France is warning its citizens to leave the country. There have been reports that Camara's soldiers have been firing upon people who are attempting to leave via the airport in Conakry. There are also reports filtering out that soldiers are attacking people in their homes and cars in Conakry.