- The killings of government opponents by Guinean troops in September amounted to "crimes against humanity" and leaders of the military junta should be held responsible, a UN inquiry commission report has said.
The commission said it was able to confirm the identities of 156 people killed or missing during the assault by forces loyal to military junta leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, in an opposition protest that had gathered in a stadium in the capital Conakry on 28 September.
It added that at least 109 women were subjected to "rapes and other sexual violence, including sexual mutilations and sexual slavery" during the mayhem, which sparked worldwide international condemnation.
According to reports, women and girls were carried away to barracks and officers' homes to serve as sex slaves for several days. Others were raped at the scene with batons and knives, then some had rifles forced up their vaginas and fired.
"It is reasonable to conclude that the crimes perpetrated on September 28 and the following days can be described as "crimes against humanity," said the inquiry panel, established by UN chief Ban Ki-moon in late October.
The 60-page report said that there was reasonable ground to presume that Camara, his aide de camp Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite and major Moussa Tieggboro Camara, the minister in charge of special services and the fight against drug trafficking, should be personally held to account before international justice.
The commission, which interviewed 700 witnesses, said the number of "victims of all those violations is probably higher" as the ruling junta in the former French colony in west Africa moved to destroy evidence of the crimes committed in the Conakry stadium.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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