300 West African nationals arrested in Guinea

Hundreds of people from West African countries have been arrested in recent days by the Guinean authorities.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the police arrested 141 people who were « confined in concessions » in the outskirts of Conakry: 84 Bissau-Guineans, 46 Senegalese, nine Guineans, a Burkinabé and a Gambian, said the government.

These mass arrests could be explained by the desire to put an end to « infiltration of foreign bodies ».

Guinea is going through a political crisis, but this case could also be related to the controversial practices of a direct selling company.

Other operations took place in several parts of the country, bringing the number of people arrested to around 300.

« Infiltrations of foreign bodies »

According to the government, this operation sufficiently proves the « recurrence of infiltration of foreign bodies both in Conakry and in big cities in the interior of the country ».

Guinea is witnessing a wave of protests against a third-term project attributed to President Alpha Conde, which has killed a dozen people.

The action of the police and the gendarmerie aims at « ridding Guinea of ​​bad seeds that have nothing to do here in this period of unrest, » said Sunday to AFP a senior police officer who requested the ‘anonymity.

However, a head of the presidency, Lieutenant-Colonel Fodé Bakary Cissé, gave a different version, mixing security issues with the fight against practices deemed doubtful by a multinational established direct sales in Africa, Qnet.

The company, headquartered in Hong Kong, would have attracted young people from several countries to Guinea and sold them various products, for which they would sell them to their relatives.

« We are regrouping in a dealership because we are in a system, when you buy a product, the company asks you to sell two more products, if you do that, the company will give you advantages, » Satigui explained. Camara, one of these sellers.

« Everyone understands that this is not just an online business, » said Cissé, division chief at the secretariat of the Presidency for Special Services.