Problems continue in Guinea

Man, yesterday was bad and we hear that today is just as bad. This is really scary since no one thought anything would happen until Monday. We have a former PCV who is in Kankan right now and have been trying to keep track of her. While I think that this political change is necessary, it's horrible to talk to staff about their families. Two volunteers are married to Guineans and one of them is back in Guinea and can't find gas to get to Mali.

Here's the NYT article about the problems - it's the longest article ever written by the NYT about Guinea!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/world/africa/11guinea.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

If you can't get in cause of the whole sign in thing, here's the text:

At Least 8 Die in Clashes in Guinea

By REUTERS

, resulting in the deaths of at least eight people, as union leaders vowed to resume a crippling CONAKRY, Guinea, Feb. 10 (Reuters) — Protests erupted Saturday in towns across Guinea general strike after President Lansana Conté appointed an old ally as prime minister.

Mr. Conté’s opponents said Eugène Camara, a senior member of the ruling party selected Friday as prime minister, was too close to the presidential clan to be a trustworthy head of government.

Demonstrators erected burning barricades and tried to attack local government offices in towns from Conakry, the seaside capital, to Nzérékoré, some 310 miles away in the remote southeast, clashing with security forces as they did so.

“We risk having to declare a state of emergency because the situation has virtually turned into an insurrection,” a government official said.

Unions, who say Mr. Conté is no longer fit to rule after 23 years in power, had given him until Monday to appoint a new prime minister, as he agreed to do in a deal struck two weeks ago to end an 18-day nationwide stoppage. Boubacar Biro Barry, one of the unions’ main negotiators, said the strike would resume.

Residents in Bonfi, a suburb of Conakry, said the security forces had killed one civilian and wounded another when they opened fire on youths stoning a convoy that they believed was the president’s.

At least two people were killed in Kankan, an opposition stronghold 280 miles east of Conakry, when a volunteer military police officer opened fire on demonstrators, residents said. The crowd turned on him and beat and burned him to death.

Two people were reported killed in Faranah, 190 miles east of Conakry. A local government official in Kindia, 60 miles northeast of the capital, said between three and five civilians had been shot dead when they tried to storm a prison.

We had volunteers in every city mentioned above. I cannot express how grateful I am that the PC pulled us out. It would have been unimaginably scary to be there right now.

I'm currently writing a revised "aspiration statement" to be sent off to Country Directors in other PC countries. Sometimes it's so hard to sound natural when writing things like that - it either sounds glib or forced. At least there are over 100 people here who have nothing else to do, so I have plenty of potential editors! It basically says that, while it would have been best to stay in Guinea, I joined Peace Corps for reasons that had nothing to do with Guinea and I am ready to start over in another country. Those of you who know how much research I did before leaving will be happy to know I've restarted the blog stalking and have already emailed current PCVs in a couple countries to ask about their experiences.

Okay, now I'm going to give you a small list of shallow things I miss about America:

1. Cheese
2. Diet soda
3. Chipotle
4. Electricity and running water (and hot water!) all the time
5. Driving a car
6. Having clean feet
7. Pedicures
8. Going to the movies
9. Getting drunk without worrying that someone will see and care (which is why I never drank outside of my house in Mamou...)
10. Getting a haircut
11. Wearing things that show my knees

For the record, I had to restrict myself on the number of those that were food-related. I might be turning into my grandmother! She used to send me letters in college that talked about sweet corn or fudge or all kinds of other random food products. I always thought it was funny, but now I think I understand! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

On a more serious note, the airports are closed, so I'm not sure when our Country Director will be arriving. Hopefully sooner rather than later. And I think they will send a transition team this week to start the paperwork to get us out of here in the next 2 weeks. Cross your fingers that my plan to start over this summer works...okay, will update again soon.