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Coronavirus: in Guinea, deaths at the top of power
Although officially underdeveloped in this West African country, the epidemic has killed several members of the entourage of the Head of State, Alpha Cond?.
By Philippe Martinat
The April 20, 2020 at 18:50 , as amended on April 20, 2020 at 23:00
In a country that officially counted only five coronavirus deaths on Monday for 622 positive cases, the series of senior Guinean officials appearing among the short and sad list of missing has reason to be concerned.
One after another, the deaths were announced, as a result of the Covid-19, of Amadou Salif K?b?, a lawyer chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (Ceni), of S?kou Kourouma, minister-secretary general of the government (a relative among the close to President Alpha Cond?), Victor Traor?, former director of Interpol in Guinea and Mory Dian?, brother of the Minister of Defense.
In addition, two soldiers of the presidential guard, red berets, are also said to have been cut down by the disease. Two other ministers, those of Security and Public Works would have been luckier: after falling ill, they would be on the verge of being cured after having followed the chloroquine treatment recommended by Professor Didier Raoult.
Having experienced the terrible Ebola epidemic, which left more than 2,500 dead between the end of 2013 and 2016, Guinea did not remain inert when the coronavirus epidemic came. Alpha Cond? went to the front line by decreeing a curfew between 9 pm and 5 am at the end of March and by imposing some measures of social distancing that were not always well received, such as that limiting the number of taxi passengers to three customers instead of six. The drivers immediately went on strike to protest the shortfall.
Here too, the elections were maintained
China having donated a stock of screening tests to African countries which have shared them, queues of worried Guineans have formed at the entrance to Donka hospital in Conakry, the main establishment hospital of the country. However, there are very few tests available. The latest press release from the National Health Security Agency, this Monday, suggests a huge contamination rate, since it indicates that "as of April 19, 2020, 102 people have been tested, including 43 positive".
"It is very difficult to have reliable data in Guinea on the scale of the epidemic," said Hamidou Bald?, spokesman for the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea, the main opposition party. "What is certain, says this close to former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, is that the Guineans do not believe in the reality of official figures. "
Regime dignitaries confined to their villas
Another reason for questioning: despite the rise of the epidemic and the controversy provoked in France by the organization on March 15 of the first round of municipal elections, the Guinean head of state maintained the double ballot (legislative and adoption of the new Constitution) on March 22. An additional factor for the virus to spread? Hamidou Bald? is certain of this and accuses: “State officials had withheld information on the epidemic to affirm that there were no cases of the infected. However, there were, since the chairman of the Election Commission himself is now deceased. "
All the ministers and dignitaries of the regime are today confined to their villas. President Alpha Cond? has not yet announced his intention to run for a third term, as the new Constitution, revised expressly allows. Despite the massacre around him, he seems for the moment, at 82 years old, in great shape.
http://www.leparisien.fr/internatio...e-au-sommet-du-pouvoir-20-04-2020-8302863.php
