Fresh Clashes As Guinea Awaits Election Results

Conakry, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Oct, 2020 ) :Fresh clashes broke out between Guinean forces and supporters of presidential candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo on Thursday, AFP journalists and witnesses said, in the latest violence as the country awaited results from the weekend election.

Cities across the West African nation have been plagued by unrest that has left around 10 people dead since Monday, according to authorities. Diallo has said at least 19 people have been killed.

The clashes follow a high-stakes presidential vote on Sunday in which President Alpha Conde ran for a controversial third term.

Diallo has claimed victory in the poll, while preliminary results released by the electoral commission have shown a strong lead for Conde.

In Conakry, AFP journalists described normally busy streets as deserted on Thursday, and explosions could be heard in the distance.

Young people erected barricades, knocked over trash cans, lit fires and hurled stones at police and gendarmes in riot gear, who responded with gunfire, according to witnesses.

"We have not slept all night because of the detonations, of the heavy fire.

We feel like we are in a country at war," a resident of Sonfonia, Mamadou Moussa Bah, told AFP.

"Young children are traumatised while their elders are on the street, violently confronting the police," he said.

In other parts of the country, clashes broke out in the towns of Pita, Labe and Mali.

"Many of our parents went to the villages, they preferred to take refuge there," Marwana Soumanoh, a boilermaker in Pita, told AFP, accusing the police of abuses.

Abdoulaye Fily Diallo, the mayor of the northern town Mali, denounced the actions of soldiers "who go into town and shoot everywhere, frightening everyone", he said, accusing them of wounding several people.

The opposition campaign has been setting the stage for an election dispute, accusing the government of "large-scale fraud" in counting ballots.

Guinea has been beset by months of unrest. Mass protests against Conde's re-election bid were repressed by security forces, who killed dozens of people from October last year.