Guineans continue to witness the festering of a potentially explosive and disastrous anomaly to the State with the serial rioting of military personnel who have been demanding back pay and better conditions.

In the latest flare up, precipitated by the sacking of former Prime Minster Lansana Kouyate by the ailing Guinean strongman General Lansana Conte, soldiers rampaged in the capital Conakry, looting shops, robbing civilians and firing in the air. Former premier Kouyate was a compromise candidate put forward to appease the soldiers in 2007 during another major military unrest.

The soldiers are angry over the non-payment of salary arrears, some as far back as 1996 and the many broken promises by their government over the years. Some of these soldiers served in the West African Peace Monitoring Group ECOMOG in the decade of the 1990's in Liberia.

In a strange response to this intractable military unrests over the years, the lame-duck President Conte has responded by sacking top officials of his government, re-arranging the politcal deck, making more promises and then going back to "bed".

Guinea has enjoyed relative "peace" since President Conte seized power in 1984 after the sudden death of President Sekou Toure. But this "peace' can only be described as an "enforced" "peace' - and perhaps tragically described as the "absence of war" in this instance.

In its just released 2008 State of the World' Human Rights Report, the United Kingdom based Amnesty International charged that amidst crippling economic woes, the Conte government continues to abitrary detentions, unlawful killings, torture, violence against women and attack on free expression.

At a recent meeting with Liberia's Vice President Joseph Boaikai, the Country Director of the International Foundation for Election System in Guinea, Elizabeth Kotty said Guinea had not been able to organize free and fair elections since the formation of its Electoral Commission. This was a stunning admission by all account but not a surprise.

According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Guinea could be one of the richest countries in sub-Saharan Africa due to its vast bauxite reserves.

The latest sacking of the former Prime Minister puts into question international non-govermental organizations and donors continued commitment to working with the Conte government. The opposition and trade unions have been brow-beaten and stomped into ineffectiveness.

The elements of another instability which could have economic, humanitarian and political consequences for the Mano River Basin and the West African subregion since the the area is rife with small arms and unemployed, poor and former rebels who would want to take advantange of another conflagration.

The prospect of the succession of a one-party state - the military looms even larger with the serial agitation of soldiers in Guinea with no real hope of the implantation of democracy and tolerance of opposing political views.

It is incumbent on the regional bodies like ECOWAS and the Mano River Union, and the African Union to ignore the principle of so called "non-interference" in the domestic affairs of member states, a tenet of the powerless and now erstwhile Organization of African Unity, and stage a robust "political intervention" to save Guinea from itself before all hell breaks loose with the sudden incapactitation of President Conte.

We salute the resilience of Guineans who have so far chosen to avoid the illegal, violent and undemocratic change of their government as a response to the national malaise plaguing their country. Guinea has so far avoided the plague of external and internal threats and conflict largely because its people have forged a strong national identity and resource upon which they draw when faced with threats to their national fabric.

But we strongly believe that Guineans must be made whole with the experience of excersising their God-given right of freedom and their civil responsibility of one man one vote in a free, fair and transparent election in their lifetime for a national leader.

The military establishment must transform its image to conform to the intent of the guarantor of the state - the Guinea constitution and serve as a vehicle for the birth and nurturing of the democratic process and institutions. This means setting into motion a plan to allow the rightful succession to power of a civilian goverment when strongman Conte fades into the night of oblivion.


About the Author: Emmanuel Abalo is an exiled Liberian journalist, media and human rights activist and a former Acting President of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL). He now resides in Pennsylavnia