A leading member of Guinea’s opposition coalition says the group is demanding the status of military junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara who is currently receiving medical treatment in Morocco.
Abe Sylla, chairman of the opposition New Generation for the Republic party said the group will go on strike if the government fails to meet its ultimatum, which expires Tuesday.
“Since December 3rd when Mr. Camara was shot by his bodyguard, there has not been an official declaration from Mr. Camara or anybody in the government showing proof to the country the exact status of his health… The country cannot be like that without (a leader). So that is why the social movement is writing to the interim president to give them the exact status, condition of the president,” he said.
Guinea’s interim leader, General Sekouba Konate visited Camara for the first time in the Moroccan hospital where he is being treated after being shot in the head by the former head of the presidential bodyguard on December 3.
Konate made no official statement after meeting the recovering leader.
The interim leader took charge after Camara was wounded. The December 3 shooting incident took place more than two months after junta soldiers killed at least 150 unarmed opposition protesters in a massacre that has drawn international criticism.
Sylla emphasized that the opposition will stage a protest strike if the junta fails to meet its demands.
“The deadline is January 5, and past that date, they are going to have a civil disobedience and maybe a strike,” Sylla said.
He said the government has yet to respond to the demands.
“So far the kind of feedback they have been giving is not convincing to either the social movement in Guinea or the people because nobody knows that exact status of the leader that was shot. One week after they took him for his operation, they were saying he was making phone calls, and that was rather strange. And there were a lot of things that were not reassuring to the people basically,” he said.
