"We do not sell anything, anything !" take a shopping in has on his stall of high-heeled shoes varnished and stained. After nine days of closure, the market of Madina, the economic backbone of Conakry, was reopened on Tuesday. But very partially. If the pits of drugs, locks, tubs, detergent, juice, non-alcoholic beverage or ginger, the sellers of phones with speakers that belted around the waist eat part of the avenue of the Niger, most wholesalers lined up behind to keep the door closed.
"the Twelve days of closure, that makes a big loss," sighs the manager of a business of wholesale of food and plastic films, who prefers to remain anonymous. Been holed up all this time in one of the suburbs north which erupted during the post-election violence, it had been padlocked metal doors of his store two days before the presidential election of 18 October. He resolved to open, and to remind its ten employees, but it is " not quiet ". "It is assumed that there is a lull, but many managers are still afraid and avoid to show themselves. It is very exposed, " he says. In recent days, a number of shops and stocks of goods have been looted. "Hundreds alone to Conakry, he says, especially small retailers. "
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traders organize
Twenty-one people have died in Guinea since the presidential election of 18 October, announced earlier this week the ministry of Security and civil Protection. But the balance sheet is much higher, and remains difficult to establish. "Dozens of people could have been killed ", warned Sunday Amnesty International, in a report documenting numerous abuses committed by the defence Forces and security (FDS). The clashes, which were opposed to the protesters, or between militants of the authority and the opposition, if they have dropped a notch this week, have not really stopped. And the fear is palpable in the markets. "We need money, so we go back a little, but it is quiet, people do not go out. We expect the final results to the constitutional Court, " says Adama Cissé, seller of shirts for men installed in front of the town hall at dixinn, at two steps from the grand market. "A corner very recognized by the officials, and even artists. "For this recovery, he did it with his stock :" Our goods come from Dubai, or Germany, but there is more inward the past two weeks. "Another constraint is that the lower price may attract the barge. "In general, we sell the items for between 25 000 [2,2 euro] and 30 000 GNF [2,6 eur], but there one is between 15 000 [1,3 euro] and 20 000 GNF [1,8 euro] ", grin-t-it.
price increase for food
In the food shops, on the contrary, the prices soar. "It is especially basic food supplies that are lacking," says Ousmane behind the fence of a tiny shop in the commune of Ratoma. "Since 3 days, the prices have increased. The bag of rice of 50 kg that was sold at 280 000 GNF [25 euros] is increased to 320 000 GNF [28 euros]. Oil has increased by 225 000 [20 euros] to 250 000 GNF [22€] 20 litres. It was also difficult to supply in cans and flour. But in the suburbs, it is worse, they have no more flour for a week. We are also the owners of a furnace, and it has not been a day without bread since the elections, " says-t it.
" You don't understand the situation. We want peace, but that may change at any time. There is something that is not going to. We heard a call from the national Front in defense of the Constitution (NDFC), which says not to open the shops, but it is closed from 16 October. It is hard for me to come and work with the insecurity, get out of the house, to have a taxi. But we don't have the choice. And as this is the end of the month, many government officials come to pick up their salary, it makes us a little busy, " said an employee of a convenience store in the administrative centre of Kaloum. It lies in the commune of Matoto, close to the" axis " which is home to a part of the violence, concentrated in the northern suburbs.
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The concern is palpable...
on Monday and Tuesday, envoys of Ecowas, the african Union and the UN have been sent to Conakry for a "diplomatic mission" preventive. They have asked the guinean authorities to " find those responsible [for the violence and hate speech hints ethnic] and prosecute the perpetrators of these acts." And have pointed also, loosely, the punishment, ordering the State to call the defense Forces and security "professionalism" and to act " with restraint ". The european Union and France are also outputs of the wood, by issuing strong reservations about the credibility of the election results.
"It is from the mission of the emissaries africans that calm is a little income," says Chérif, 28 years old, left his home to seek, in vain, for a spare part for his motorbike. "Everything is closed," sighed he, by blotting the drops of sweat pearling on his face. He has just spent ten days barricaded in his home with his family, to Cobayah, one of these northern suburbs populated Fulani were supposed to favour the opposition. A little further down, to Wanindara, the road the Prince looks like a field of battle. Carcasses of buses and cars, burned, spilled oil on pavement, the trunk of trees and lamp-posts uprooted, litter and stones lying on the asphalt... " there has been a lot, a lot of violence. We saw the dead, women raped, houses looted ", lists a-t-il.
... because of the political climate that remains tense
further down in the neighborhood, a group of young people sitting on walls. Behind them, the shops remain locked. "No one opens, the gendarmes we prevent it," says Oumar, 26 years old, " unemployed graduate ". These last days, he joined the protestors, armed with stone, to prevent FDS from entering their neighborhoods. According to him, the crisis is not resolved. "They only have to say the results out of the ballot box. This is what you want to hear. Since 2010, it is always the same. It's results made that gives the Céni [independent national electoral Commission] ", sets out in a way chopped, anger contained. And then adds : "last Friday, I saw the death of a young person next to me, shot by the gendarmes. Behind the mosque, they have also burned three houses. "
The first floor of a small building, Alpha Diallo, 26 years old, is sitting on a mat. He was shot in the shoulder Saturday. "It was by mere coincidence, we didn't know that the police and the gendarmes were going to come near us. Me, I'm not used to participate in manifs, I was just out, it was quiet. But all of a sudden, I saw people running and I heard shots. In our area, there has been a death, a sage who teaches the qur'an. He died directly. Each evening, up to now, the SDS still come. They shoot tear gas, gunfire also. They want to prevent people from leaving or to claim the victory of Cellou ", " he says gently.
This Wednesday, the device that assigned arbitrarily to residence the opponent Cellou Dalein Diallo has been lifted. He had been deployed Tuesday, October 20, the day after a press conference during which he attributed the victory to the presidential election. The provisional results of the Céni have dedicated Saturday, October 26, Alpha Condé the winner of the election with 59,49 % of the vote. Results are expected to be validated within a period of eight days by the constitutional Court. It is, therefore, now the race against the clock for the opponent. He tries to build a folder action with this institution and give evidence of his victory, in spite of the distrust which it inspires him.
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