Guinea Coup Soldiers Order Ministers for a Meeting
Soldiers who seized power in Guinea on Sunday have ordered government ministers and national figures to attend a meeting later on Monday.
The special force’s officers warned that anybody who failed to appear would be regarded as a rebel. In a broadcast on state TV, they said regional governors have been replaced by military commanders, and the ousted president, Alpha Condé, was safe but in detention.
An indefinite nationwide curfew is in force. The coup has been condemned by the United Nations and African Union.
The head of Special Forces, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, said his soldiers had seized power because they want to end rampant corruption and mismanagement.
Soldiers are not trained to shoot above the knee – Boakye-Djan
A former Spokesperson of the defund Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) Major retired Osahene Kojo Boakye-Djan has waded into the arbitrary shooting of protesters in Ejurain the Ashanti Region, killing two persons and injuring four others.
he said the military manual on training its personnel does not allow for shooting above the knee in order to cause deaf in situations other than war.
He added that the military men deployed to disperse the unarmed protestors in Ejura seemed unprofessional to him because real military officers would have used tear gas and water hose in that endeavor instead of aiming to kill unarmed civilians.
Major (Ret) Boakye Gyan said it was highly unmilitaristic for a soldier to shoot young boys running away at the sight of the military men in Ejura and even if it came to the point of shooting there were certain precautionary measures to take before shooting as the military training manual dictates.
He, therefore, described the killing in Ejura as an “aimed shot” directed to kill rather than control the upheaval in the enclave.
Major (Ret.) Boakye Gyan posited that in his assessment the soldiers deployed to Ejura to control the crowd were not trained personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces. Because Ghanaian soldiers are trained to go and defend the peace in other countries so how can they fail in their own countries.
He has thus entreated the military to investigate the debacle in Ejura because to him he does not believe they were real soldiers.
In an interview with Yaa Titi Okrah on Onua FM’s Pae Mu Ka programme, he insisted that trained soldiers will not dare to behave arbitrarily in the manner exhibited in Ejura.
He was commenting on the back of the military shooting in Ejura which resulted in killing two persons and wounding four others in the process of controlling a protest in that enclave.
“What is happening in the country resulting in the castigation of soldiers and military personnel saddens my heart. For example, what happened in Ejura where the protesters were running away and were shot from behind, the manual does not allow that. You make sure you disperse them either using tear gas or water hose or those things but to shoot from behind knowing that they might die is highly unprofessional.
“In any case, if you had to shoot, there must be so many steps to take, you should not shoot from above knee level. What we witnessed was an aimed shot, sorry I have to use that term because their practice was not that of soldiers. I strongly believe the one who shot the civilians was not a trained soldier, he can’t even be a trained police officer”, the veteran officer declared.
More than 50 persons have been arrested after two military officers were attacked at Dome Faase near Accra.
A military contingent was deployed to the town to restore calm forcing residents to flee to avoid arrest.
The uniformed men reportedly clashed with rampaging residents on Tuesday, while protecting a parcel of land owned by a sub-chief of Akyem Apedwa.
Images widely shared online capture the two soldiers bleeding profusely as they are being surrounded by the mob granting interviews to reporters at the scene.
One of them who identified himself as Clement Asare-Addo said warning shots had been fired with the hope of dispersing the agitated residents. However, this backfired.
“Our work is that we give a warning shot and when they stop then their leader and our leader will sit down and talk. But this one, it didn’t happen like that. They came to us and attacked us saying that we came here voluntarily,” he said.
According to the army officer, the residents accused them of not having been officially assigned to that post.
He added that even after explaining to the leader of the group that they were not criminals, the group simply would not listen to reason and proceeded to beat him and his colleague up.
“Their leader came there and we informed him that we are not criminals. So if there is anything else, they should exercise patience and lead us to your chief or wherever then we continue,” he pleaded.
Clement said their pleas and cries of innocence fell on deaf ears as the residents continued to beat them.
The residents had been demonstrating over the ownership of the land when the incident occurred.
They had earlier claimed that there have been rumours of armed land guards working with military personnel to terrorize their communities.
“Three weeks ago we heard rumours of activities on Ga lands that fall precisely under the Domeabra Obong constituency. Further investigations revealed that the presence of a team of armed land guards was working with some military personnel terrorizing the communities, claiming the Akyem stool sent them,” a spokesman for the residents told reporters.
“What is happening in the country resulting in the castigation of soldiers and military personnel saddens my heart. For example, what happened in Ejura where the protesters were running away and were shot from behind, the manual does not allow that. You make sure you disperse them either using tear gas or water hose or those things but to shoot from behind knowing that they might die is highly unprofessional.
