Story of recaptured former Guinean leader Dadis Camara
Moussa Dadis Camara
Published By: Isa Isawade
Moussa Dadis Camara, the former military government leader of Guinea who escaped from the central prison in Conakry, the capital of Guinea on Saturday morning, was recaptured a few hours later.
The chief of Staff and General of the Armed Forces of the Guinean transitional government, Ibrahima Sory Bangoura, who confirmed the recapture in a statement on Saturday said Moussa Dadis Camara was “safe and sound and is now back in the central prison of Conakry.”
According to him, two other fugitives, Col. Moussa Tiegboro Camara and Col. Blaise Gomou, have also been recaptured and taken back to the prison.
The armed forces said that all measures were also being taken to find the last fugitive, Commander Claude Pivi.
In a statement released by the Ministry of Justice, the Attorney General at the Court of Appeals in Conakry has issued instructions to initiate proceedings for serious charges against all four detainees who were exfiltrated Saturday from the central prison by an armed commando.
These detainees included Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, the former transition president, Colonel Moussa Tiegboro Camara, the former minister in charge of tackling organised crime and grand banditry at the presidency, Blaise Gomou, a former member of the anti-drugs squad and Commander Claude Pivi, the former minister responsible for presidential security.
Moussa Dadis Camara was a senior officer of the Guinean army who staged a coup and became military President of Guinea on 23 December 2008. He lost power in January 2010 and went into exile abroad.
He was the leader of the National Council for Democracy and Development (French: Conseil National de la Démocratie et du Développement, CNDD), which seized power in a military coup d’état on 23 December 2008 shortly after the death of long-time president Lansana Conté.
Camara returned to Guinea in December 2021 and was subsequently accused of violently suppressing the protests that took place in Conakry on Sept. 28, 2009, resulting in the deaths of more than 150 people and more than 1,000 injuries.
On 3 December 2009, Camara was shot in the head during an assassination attempt and subsequently left the country for Morocco for medical treatment.
He was in exile in Burkina Faso, where he converted from Islam to Catholicism, changing his name from Moussa to the French form, Moïse before returning to Guinea in Dec. 2021.
He was arrested along with other military officers and detained in the prison in the Kaloum commune, Conakry before a heavily armed group broke Camara and three other officials out of the jail.
