Dozens killed in clashes at Guinea football match

Dozens of people were killed Sunday in clashes between fans at a football match in N’Zerekore, Guinea’s second largest city, hospital sources told AFP, describing scenes of mass carnage.

“There are bodies lined up as far as the eye can see in the hospital. Others are lying on the floor in the hallways. The morgue is full,” one doctor said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

He said “there are around 100 dead”, with bodies filling the local hospital and morgue. Another doctor said there were “dozens of dead”.

Videos circulating on social media, which AFP was unable to immediately verify, showed scenes of chaos in the street outside the match and numerous bodies lying on the ground.

Angry demonstrators also vandalised and set fire to the N’Zerekore police station, according to witnesses.

“It all started with a contested decision by the referee. Then fans invaded the pitch,” a witness told AFP, asking that his name be withheld for safety reasons.

Local media said the match was part of a tournament organised in honour of Guinea’s junta leader, Mamadi Doumbouya, who seized power in a 2021 coup and has installed himself as president.

Such tournaments have become common in the West African nation as Doumbouya eyes a potential run in presidential elections expected next year and political alliances form.

– Prolonged transition –

Doumbouya seized power by force in September 2021 by overthrowing President Alpha Conde, who had placed the then-colonel in charge of an elite force tasked with protecting the head of state from such coups.

Under international pressure, he pledged to hand power back to a civilian government by the end of 2024 but has since made clear he will not.

The military leader “exceptionally” promoted himself to the rank of lieutenant general in January and last month he elevated himself to the rank of army general.

Doumbouya has presided over an ongoing crackdown on dissent, with many opposition leaders detained, brought before the courts or forced into exile.

A “transitional charter” drawn up by the junta shortly after the coup said that no member of the junta could stand in either national or local elections.

But Doumbouya’s backers have recently expressed their support for his candidacy in the next presidential election.

At the end of September, authorities indicated that elections intended to restore constitutional order would be held in 2025.

Despite its considerable natural resources, Guinea remains an impoverished nation.

It has been ruled by authoritarian governments for decades.

Doumbouya is one of several officers who have seized power in West Africa since 2020, along with fellow military leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

N’Zerekore, where the clashes took place in Guinea’s southeast, has a population of about 200,000 people.