This October 30 in Russia is the annual day of remembrance of the victims of political repression, in a country where the return of statues of Stalin is accelerating. Also in Guinea, the rehabilitation of Ahmed Sékou Touré by the transitional political authorities is causing a lively debate: the country’s former president is considered a tyrant by some and a hero by others. Explanations.
3 mins
From our correspondent in Conakry,
The tensions affecting collective memory in Russia find an echo in a West African country: in Guinea, the father of independence was also a brutal dictator who had his opponents imprisoned and executed. But Ahmed Sékou Touré is today a historical figure in full rehabilitation.
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Since taking power on September 5, 2021, Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya has multiplied symbolic gestures in favor of the man who was head of state between 1958 and 1984. Decisions which culminate in the month of December, when, to the surprise general, the current president of the transition changes the name of the capital’s airport.
From now on, in Conakry, we land at the Ahmed Sékou Touré international airport. This is a great first in the country where until now no monument bore his name, except the presidential palace, the construction of which he initiated.
The Prime Minister learned of the news in the media and publicly expressed his “ dissatisfaction “. It must be said that Mohamed Béavogui is none other than the nephew of Diallo Tellione of Sékou Touré’s emblematic victims.
But many Guineans support the approach. Society is lacking role models and strong figures. Ahmed Sékou Touré embodies, particularly among young people, the fight for dignity and independence. Nostalgia for Sékou Touré is more and more perceptible.
A decision by the junta which triggers a controversy
But human rights defenders are calling on the military to reverse their decree concerning Conakry airport. The executive secretary of the Association of Victims of Camp Boiro then said to himself “ dismayed “. Sékou Touré was, it is true, the first president of independent Guinea, he argues, but “ we are talking about a tyrant who leaves behind thousands of victims in mass graves »: 50,000 dead and missing, according to human rights organizations. “ How can Guinea forget its history? », asks Abdoulaye Conté.
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Despite attempts at rehabilitation, Sékou Touré maintains an ambivalent image. He is, for some, the one who “ honored Guinea and its continent, by giving the signal for independence in French-speaking Africa », writes in the magazine Young Africa Rachid Ndiaye, former Guinean Minister of Communication. It is “ the man of “No” in the referendum of General de Gaulle, September 28, 1958 », the one who stood up to the former colonial power. A hero for some, he is still a tyrant for others.
No work of memory has been accomplished by Guinea and Sékou Touré remains a controversial figure. But for how long ? His rehabilitation today threatens to silence his victims who disappear one after the other. Fewer and fewer people denounce the crimes of his regime, it is the smoothed image of the cantor of pan-Africanism, of the defender of freedoms which could prevail to the detriment of historical truth.