Guinea - The African Mirror

Feb

2021

Guinea declares new Ebola outbreak

GUINEA declared a new Ebola outbreak yesterday, as tests came back positive for the virus after at least three people died and four fell ill in the southeast - the first resurgence of the disease there since the world's worst outbreak in 2013-2016. The seven patients fell ill with diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding after attending a burial in Goueke sub-prefecture. Those still alive have been isolated in treatment centres, the health ministry said. It was not clear if the person buried on February 1 had also died of Ebola. She was a nurse at a local health centre who died…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Guinea says China will donate 200,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses

COVID-19

CHINA will donate 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Guinea, the West African nation's foreign minister Ibrahima Khalil Kaba told Reuters yesterday. China's ambassador in Conakry announced the donation in a meeting on Tuesday, Kaba said. He did not specify which Chinese-developed vaccine would be donated or when the doses would arrive. While vaccination campaigns are well underway in many wealthy countries, limited early access to vaccines made by Western drugmakers means most African countries have yet to launch inoculation drives. So-called vaccine diplomacy by China and Russia is cultivating goodwill in parts of the world after pharmaceutical companies including…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Guinea approves Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine

COVID-19

Guinea has approved the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for domestic use, becoming the second African country to do so, health authorities and Russia's sovereign wealth fund said on Friday. The West African country's approval of the vaccine for use for one year occurred two weeks after President Alpha Conde was seen receiving it on television under a trial run of what is expected to be a much large delivery of vials from Russia. Guinea is negotiating a bilateral deal to take an additional 2 million doses, a senior government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Russia's vaccine diplomacy…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Steinmetz denies corruption in Guinea case; says he was not in charge

NEWS

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY ISRAEL businessman Beny Steinmetz has denied any role in corruption or forgery linked to mining rights his company secured in Guinea, describing himself as the owner and company ambassador but not the boss. Steinmetz was indicted in August 2019 by a Geneva prosecutor who accused him and two aides of paying, or having paid, $10 million in bribes to obtain exploration permits for some of the world's richest iron-ore deposits in the remote Simandou mountains of Guinea. Steinmetz and his aides deny the charges. If convicted he could face up to 10 years in prison. At his court…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Guinea’s Conde wins presidency with 59.5% of vote

NEWS

GUINEA’S President Alpha Conde won the October 18 election with 59.5% of the vote, according to a full preliminary tally from the election commission on Saturday. The victory, which requires confirmation by the Constitutional Court, gives a third term in office to the 82-year-old Conde after a bitterly fought election in which the opposition said he had no right to participate. Conde says a constitutional referendum in March reset his two-term limit, but opponents say he is breaking the law by holding onto power. Results were announced in batches in recent days and already showed Conde with an unassailable lead,…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Guinea opposition candidate claims victory, violence erupts

NEWS

SALIOU SAMB GUINEA opposition candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo claims he has won the first round of the October 18 presidential election, but his claim was quickly disputed by the electoral commission and the government, setting the stage for a stand-off. "Despite the serious anomalies that marred the smooth running of the ... election and in view of the results that came out of the ballot boxes, I am victorious in this election in the first round," Diallo told journalists and cheering supporters. He did not give any figures but said the tally was based on his party's count, not an…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Guinea votes on third term for Conde amid voter-card concerns

NEWS

SALIOU SAMB POLLS have closed and counting has begun in Guinea following a largely peaceful day in which voters decided whether to give 82-year-old President Alpha Conde a third mandate, made possible by a constitutional change in March. At least 50 people have been killed over the past year during demonstrations against the new constitution, according to Amnesty International, and violence erupted repeatedly during campaigning. A spokesman for the national election commission said the vote was "calm, serene and done with enthusiasm", but a number of people including one of the candidates said they had been turned away at polling…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Guinea’s Condé accepts nomination to seek third term

NEWS

GUINEA President Alpha Condé has accepted his party’s nomination to run in October’s election, the party said on Monday, taking advantage of a new constitution to seek a third term that his opponents say is unconstitutional. Condé, who was first elected in 2010, pushed through a change to the constitution that was approved by a referendum in March that was boycotted by the opposition. Talk of a potential third term sparked widespread protests that have killed at least 30 people over the past year. Condé’s supporters say the constitutional change acts as a reset button on the two-term limit. The…