Guinea/Sri Lanka Updates

Some updates on issues that we’ve discussed in the last few weeks:

Protests in Guinea: Following the brutal reaction by the military leadership on protesters (discussed in the meeting last week) leading Unions called for a two day general strike. That strike is now in its second day and has, so far, been widely acknowledged with the streets being reported as very quiet with many people staying at home. The Government still refuses to acknowledge the extent of the killings on September 28th, putting the death toll at about one third of what has been reported by the United Nations and Human Rights organisations.

In a condemnable development, the London Times reports ‘China is preparing to throw the junta in Guinea a lifeline in the form of a multibillion-pound oil and mineral deal, financed largely by soft loans. Such policies have already served China well with rogue and discredited regimes from Angola to Sudan. The move comes as the European Union, spurred on by France, the former colonial power, and the African Union are considering sanctions against Guinea if its young military leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, continues to renege on a deal to stand down in favour of free elections’.
I was considering that we should have a discussion in an upcoming week regarding what our attitudes are towards the ways that we should (or shouldn’t) adjust our economic relations with governments who violate the rights of their citizens.

Sri Lankan Camps: There has been (worringly) little news regarding any progress on the re-settlement of the hundreds of thousands of individuals displaced as a result of the civil war. Amnesty has today urged the Sri Lankan government to ‘respect the rights of all displaced people to liberty and freedom of movement; freedom of arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention.’ It observes that “Displaced people have not been allowed to seek alternative accommodations or start the process of rebuilding their lives. The Sri Lankan government continues to confine the displaced to closed camps, in crowded, uncomfortable and sometimes hazardous conditions.

I’ll post again as soon as there is more news on this issue.