By Kemo Cham
Three of the officers involved in Saturday’s alleged jail break have been dismissed from the Guinean army.
The decision was announced in a decree issued by Transition President Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya, which was read in a live national broadcast on Sunday.
Colonel Claude Pivi, Colonel Moussa Thiegboro Kamara and Colonel Blaise Goumou were dismissed for “misconduct”, according to the statement.
The three men, alongside former junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, went missing after an early morning raid on the central prison in Conakry. Authorities say a group of heavily armed unidentified group of men stormed the building and went away with the men.
Guinea’s Justice Minister, Alphonso Wright, said on Saturday that four people had been discovered missing after the attack.
But it appeared increasingly clear that the number may be larger.
The four men, including Dadis, are the most prominent among them. They are also the subject of ongoing trial for the massacre of civilians in 2009, when Dadis ruled the country under a military regime.
Lawyers for Dadis have since claimed that his was a case of kidnapping, although they did not provide further details on who might be behind it.
But in the public, suspicion has fallen on the son of Colonel Pivi, who is the only man among the three top inmates still at large.
The General Prosecutor of Guinea has since launched an investigation to ascertain exactly what happened.
Guinea Chief of Army General Staff, Major General Ibrahima Sory Bangoura, has vowed that the army will ensure that everyone is brought back into custody.
Major General Bangoura blamed those behind the plot for seeking to “sabotage” reforms by the junta led administration.
“ These outlaws faced fierce resistance from the Defence and Security Forces who, thanks to their action, managed to stop their progress and forced them to flee,” the army chief said in his first public statement on the incident.
“Thanks to the determination of the Defence and Security Forces, the situation was quickly brought under control and brought back to normal,” he added.
Major General Bangoura assured that the situation has since been brought under control.
“We urge the people to continue to trust their republican army. Peace, security and progress in Guinea remain the priority of the CNRD and its President. No attempt to destabilize will stop the march of refoundation,” he said.
