African Civil Society Groups Demand Independent Probe Into Bound Bodies Found in Guinea Mass Grave

A group of 20 African civil society organisations has issued a call for an independent investigation following the discovery of six unidentified bodies in a mass grave in Guinea.

The appeal was made on Sunday after local men searching for firewood discovered the six male bodies in the village of Alassoya, located in Lower Guinea’s Forecariah administrative prefecture, on August 24. Reports noted that the bodies were bound and blindfolded. Guinea’s Armed Forces have officially confirmed the discovery.

Among the participating groups were the Afrikajom Centre and several chapters of Tournons La Page (TLP), a network uniting citizen movements across roughly a dozen African nations. The coalition demanded that all possible hypotheses be thoroughly examined through an independent, impartial, and transparent probe.

Furthermore, the organisations urged that the investigation be carried out with the assistance of both national and international forensic experts to formally identify the victims. According to the groups, this mass grave discovery compounds at least 35 documented cases of enforced disappearances recorded by TLP-Guinea since September 5, 2021. They expressed grave concern that the circumstances surrounding the bodies suggest the victims may have suffered extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions.

In response, Guinea’s Armed Forces have pledged to conduct an official inquiry. A military statement confirmed that the six bodies have been transferred to the hospital in Forecariah to carry out identifications and determine the exact circumstances of death. The military added that all necessary measures are being taken to clarify the situation and promised that the results of the investigation will be made public.

This grim find occurs against the backdrop of an extensive crackdown on political dissent in Guinea following the 2021 coup led by General Mamady Doumbouya. Since the seizure of power, numerous political parties have faced suspension, protests have been suppressed, and several opposition and civil society leaders have either been arrested, sentenced, or driven into exile. Local civil society groups have continuously tracked cases of opposition activists being abducted or disappearing under the current military government.

Additionally, France has formally urged Guinean authorities to launch a transparent and independent inquiry into the mass grave, as reported by Africanews, a news outlet based in Lyon, France. Africanews also noted that a separate mass grave was uncovered in the exact same region of Guinea last year, though ongoing investigations have yet to establish the identities of those victims or the causes of their deaths.