RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS COMMENT ON PROTESTS

UNCLAS CONAKRY 000602 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ASEC GV SUBJECT: RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS COMMENT ON PROTESTS REF: CONAKRY 00600 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Employees from the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) painted a brutal picture of the September 28 protests in Guinea. Although neither organization was able to estimate the final death toll, they corroborated wide-spread rumors of public rapes and indiscriminate killings. ¶2. (SBU) During yesterday's events, MSF focused mainly on staffing and providing supplies to Conakry's Donka hospital and Matam Health Clinic. At the Donka clinic, at least three hundred people were treated in the Emergency room. The patients were divided up into three categories: "beaten, shocked and beaten, and bullet wounds." After 7pm, the staff stopped counting the numbers of patients asking for treatment, as the situation became too chaotic. In Matam, the staff treated fifteen wounded patients, three of who were suffering from bullet wounds. MSF also had five women come into the clinics who appear to have been raped. While one case was identified and "dealt with," the other women left the clinics before MSF could follow up on their rape reports. ¶3. (SBU) MSF says that they are bracing themselves for new clashes later this week and getting all of their materials in place for another round of violence. According to the Director, yesterday was merely a "first step" in a series of violent incidents. ¶4. (SBU) David Bernocchi Director of CRS, whose offices were closed today, said that they are exchanging information with other NGOs and trying to gather information about yesterday's events. Located in the often volatile Cosa neighborhood, CRS employees witnessed several violent incidents over the past two days. ¶5. (SBU) Bernocchi personally saw Cellou Diallo taken to the hospital yesterday (reftel). Apparently, Cellou was in a "terrible state - with blood all over." Bernocchi said that Cellou was first brought to a private clinic by Tiegboro Camara. Three minutes later, a set of Beret Rouge, led by Tiegboro, carried Cellou back out to the car screaming "Go to the camp." Cellou was apparently in shock and treated very roughly by the Beret Rouge. ¶6. (SBU) Bernocchi also said that a CRS guard, who was on duty early this morning, witnessed a Beret Rouge attack on an elderly civilian. Apparently the armed group shot an elderly man who was driving by the CRS headquarters on a motorcycle. According to the guard, the group killed the man in order to steal his motorcycle. They apparently drove the vehicle away from the scene. ¶7. (SBU) Bernocchi also heard rumors that the military is encouraging youth to loot businesses in order to show their alliance to the armed forces and, possibly, be recruited into the military. Bernocchi believes that the military is simply "out to loot," and has lost sight of any real political goal. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶8. (SBU) CRS and MSF stories corroborate other information received by Embassy Conakry. The directors of both organizations seem nervous about the situation over the next week and will be watching it closely. BROKENSHIRE