Gunmen on Saturday, November 4, stormed a prison facility in Conakry, Guinea where former President Moussa Dadis Camara was held.
As per multiple reports, heavy gunshots had rocked Guinea’s capital on Saturday morning with the target being a local prison.
Further, the reports indicated that the armed men stormed the prison early in the morning before freeing the former president.
BBC reported that the armed men also freed three other men confined in the prison.
Guinea’s Justice Minister Charles Alphonse Wright confirmed the incident and announced the closure of the country’s borders.
Guinea authorities launch manhunt for gunmen
He assured the public that efforts to trace them were underway and that the people responsible would be held accountable.
“We will find them. And those responsible will be held accountable,” Wright noted while speaking to a local radio.
The streets of Conakry were dotted with heavy presence of security officers with the government keen to trace the former head of state.
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The officers blocked access to the city as military officers patrolled the streets with their vehicles.
Camara has been in jail since his incarceration in connection with the mass killing of over 150 people.
After rising to power through a coup in 2008, Camara’s tenure was marred with controversies including the mass killings that led to his replacement in 2010.
His administration came under sharp criticism and even narrowly survived an assassination attempt during a botched coup.
After an incident when he was shot in the head amid the coup, Camara traveled abroad for treatment and later proceeded to stay in exile for years.
In 2021, he returned home from Burkina Faso and faced the charges that saw him end up in jail.
Also Read: Ex-President Caught Running Away with Cooks at Night
Political unrest wreaks havoc in Guinea, West Africa
Currently, Guinea that has experienced political unrest due coup d’etats is under the rule of Col Mamady Doumbouya- a junta who rose to power after a coup in 2021.
The Saturday morning incident is a highlight of the political unrest that has hit most countries in Francophone Africa.
In late October, former Niger President Mohamed Bazoum who ousted in a coup earlier in the year reportedly attempted to escape from his home in Niamey where he was put under house arrest.
Reports stated that Bazoum had plotted to break out of the home where he was held with the aid of a “foreign power” to relocate in a foreign country.
However, the plans were thwarted. Other countries in the region now known as the coup belt including Burkina Faso, Mali, Sudan, and Chaad have also experienced unrest characterized by constant coups.
