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Downfall of a dictator

By Quid Nunc on April 9, 2010 2:53 PM

Jon Lee Anderson, one of the best foreign correspondents around, writes in The New Yorker about Guinea and Moussa Dadis Camara, an Army captain who seized control of the government in 2008. On September 28, 2009, a protest against Dadis turned violent when his guards and loyalists murdered at least a hundred and fifty-six demonstrators and gang-raped more than a hundred women. In this audio slide show, Anderson discusses the events of September 28th, the machinations that led to Dadis's rise to power, and the transitional government now in place following an attempt on Dadis's life. Photographs by Tim Hetherington. See more on in The New Yorker

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Don't ask why the EU is paying for the governor's house, you might end up in jail

By Quid Nunc on January 5, 2010 5:20 AM

A journalist who asked why the European Union was paying to rebuild the governor's offices in Guinea has been arrested threatened. "Has the European Union suspended funding for the construction of the N'zérékoré Governor's offices?" asked Emmanuel Toumani Camara, a journalist in N'zérékoré, a region in south-eastern Guinea. His article was published by the privately-owned, Conakry-based "L'Indépendant" newspaper asked He was reportedly picked up at his house on 29 December 2009 and detained at the regional police headquarters for two days without charge. Armed policemen stormed Camara's house and violently dragged him to the station, allegedly on the orders of a chief director in the office of the N'zérékoré governor, Hassane Sanoussi. Two days after his arrest, on 31 December, Camara was released upon the governor's intervention. He was held incommunicado. The journalist questioned why the renovation was still in progress despite the EU suspending financial aid to the country. The regional authorities have declared Camara persona non grata and he has currently left the region.