Opposition vlogger’s son and opposition figure kidnapped in Guinea

The son of a Guinean opposition video blogger as well as an opposition member have been kidnapped, AFP learned Thursday from their respective family and political circles, the latest in a string of disappearances connected to government critics.

Since the rise to power of President Mamady Doumbouya in 2021 following a coup, abductions of opposition figures have become systemic, with enforced disappearances now on the rise.

In recent months, the disappearance of relatives of government opponents, particularly those in exile, has become particularly frequent.

Guinean video blogger Ansou Damaro Camara, known as “General 5 etoiles” (“General 5 stars”) said his son as well as his son’s friend had been kidnapped, in a post on Facebook Wednesday.

The online personality is highly critical of Guinea’s authoritarian government, living in exile in the United States.

The Turn the Page citizen’s movement said Camara’s son Mohamed Camara was abducted Tuesday night in Kissosso, a Conakry suburb.

“Using a 15-year-old as leverage,” the collective said, was “not only illegal but morally indefensible.”

Contacted on Thursday, Guinean authorities did not respond.

Former Guinean prime minister and opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo meanwhile announced on Facebook Thursday that an official from his party “has been missing in Conakry since Tuesday, April 21” without providing further details on the disappearance.

The missing man, Thierno Sadou Bah, is a member of the “federal bureau” of Diallo’s UFDG party in Liberia.

“The modus operandi, as well as the practice of making relatives disappear in order to get at critical voices residing abroad, clearly indicates that the junta is behind these kidnappings,” said Diallo, who himself lives in exile.

Several prominent cases of disappearances of opposition figures’ relatives have occurred in recent months.

The mother of exiled political opponent and former minister Tibou Camara and her sister were kidnapped in March by men in military fatigues and released five days later.

Late last year four relatives, including two children, of exiled singer Elie Kamano were kidnapped, as was journalist Mamoudou Babila Keita’s father, who was in his 70s.