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According to reports, violent gunfire broke out in the center of Conakry, the capital of Guinea near the Presidential Palace, but it is not clear who is responsible for the incident.
A senior government official said on Sunday that President Alpha Kant was not injured, but did not provide more details.
A military source told Reuters that the bridge connecting the rest of the city and the Kaloum neighborhood has been blocked, and many soldiers have been deployed around the palace.
A military source said that the gunfire involved angry members of the special forces, an elite army. The source did not specify what caused the anger.
Another military source said that the only bridge connecting the mainland to the Kaloum neighborhood had been blocked, and many soldiers, some of them heavily armed, were placed around the palace.
Three witnesses told Reuters that they saw two civilians sustained gunshot wounds.
“I saw hordes of soldiers walking towards the presidency. There have been many shootings,” said Ousmane Camara, a resident of Kaloum.
Military budget cuts
Videos shared on social media showed violent gunfire over the city and vehicles full of soldiers approaching the central bank near the palace.
Two convoys of armored vehicles and pickup trucks were seen driving towards the Autonomous Port of Conakry, also located near the palace. The convoy was accompanied by a white vehicle, which looked like an ambulance.
Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque reported in Dakar, neighbouring Senegal, that the army had been deployed in the center of Conakry and ordered residents to stay indoors through loudspeakers.
Huck said that the area near the Kalum Hotel was the scene of the shooting. According to reports, President Kant was nearby.
“This is one week after the National Assembly voted to increase the budget of the president and parliamentarians, but the budgets of those working in security services such as the police and the army have been drastically reduced.”
Controversial election
Last October, Comte won his third presidency in a fiercely controversial election.He rushed over one New constitution In March 2020, this allowed him to circumvent the country’s two-term term limit, triggering mass protests.
Dozens of people were killed during demonstrations, usually in clashes with security forces. Hundreds were also arrested.
83-year-old Kant was Announce On November 7th last year, even though his main challenger Cellou Dalein Diallo and other opposition figures complained about election fraud.
A former opposition activist himself, Kant became Guinea’s first democratically elected president in 2010 and won the 2015 re-election before doing so again last year. However, critics accused him of turning to authoritarianism.
Thanks to its wealth of bauxite, iron ore, gold and diamonds, Guinea has witnessed sustained economic growth during Comte’s ten years in power, but few citizens have seen these benefits.
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