Sanctions against Guinea
Background to the sanctions against Guinea
Guinea´s President Lasana Conté, who had been in office since 1984, died at the end of 2008. The military took control by means of a coup led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara. The military junta was made up of 32 members of the National Council for Democracy and Development (NCDD). The coup was condemned by the international community. The African Union (AU) then suspended Guinea´s membership of the organisation until such time as the country is governed in accordance with the constitution. In addition, at the beginning of 2009 the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced that until further notice, Guinea would not be permitted to take part in the organisation´s meetings.
Dissatisfaction with the military regime increased in Guinea, and on 28 September 2009 some 50 000 people gathered to protest the fact that coup leader Camara would be a candidate in the presidential elections. Security forces opened fire and according to estimates, over 150 people were killed and more than 1 250 were injured. Other serious human rights violations, such as mass rape, also took place. The violence during the demonstration was strongly condemned by the international community. In December 2009, Camara was shot and injured by one of his close associates.
An International Contact Group on Guinea (ICG-G) has been formed and, in addition to ECOWAS, includes representatives of the AU, the UN and the EU. The Contact Group has met often and has held regular meetings. The group played an important role in achieving an agreement on the appointment of a transitional government at the beginning of 2010. The transitional government, with Jean-Marie Doré as prime minister, organised elections in the summer of 2010.
The EU introduces sanctions
In October 2009 the Council of the European Union adopted Common Position 2009/788/CFSP, which introduced travel restrictions for members of Guinea´s military junta, as well as for persons associated with the junta and who are guilty of violations in connection with the demonstration in September, or who paralyse the political process towards democratic governance. The Common Position also introduced an arms embargo in relation to Guinea. In December 2009 the EU decided to expand the sanctions against Guinea to also include freezing the assets of persons upon whom travel restrictions were previously imposed, and also added new names to the list. The possibility of freezing the assets of legal persons and entities associated with these persons was also introduced. The arms embargo was supplemented with a ban on providing financial or technical assistance in connection with prohibited arms exports. In March 2010, the Council of the European Union decided to amend the Common Position by deleting four persons from the list.
