Panafrican News Agency

Guinean women up in arms against rapists of young girls

Conakry, Guinea (PANA) – Guinean civil society activists, women in particular, have been making daily appeals for general mobilisation to fight the widespread rape of girls in the country.

 

Leading the campaign is former Minister of Labour, Dr Makalé Traoré, who rolls up her sleeves to urge eradication of endless rapes in the five communes of Conakry, the capital with a population of about two million.

 

Since she left government service over a decade ago, the sociologist turned main actor of the civil society as chairperson of the Coalition of Guinean Women and Girls (COFIG).

 

Dr Traoré and members of her organisation reaffirm their strong determination and commitment to go up and down the five communes of the capital on Tuesday and Saturday every week to encourage social mobilisation for action the habit of raping  young girls.

 

The COFIG’s approach follows the publication of the results from a recent survey on the phenomenon which, according to her, has taken the community to alarming proportions with men in their 60s raping two-year old girls.

 

COFIG says that between September and November last year, 552 cases of rape were reported, comparede to 203 cases in 2013 in the five communes of Conakry.

 

The results of the survey show that over the same period, there were 165 cases of rape in the commune of Kaloum and 307 cases of accounts committed against young girls by members of the same family.

Such incidents were also reported from Dixinn, Ratoma and Matam communes.

 

‘’In the majority of cases, families of victims were willing to resolve the issues amicably and withdrew their complaints,’’ COFIG said.

 

As a result, COFIG is calling on the Guinean government, the judiciary and the civil society to rise up against rapists who can be found all over the country.

 

Rapists, including an artist, who recently posted on social networks videos on their acts, were arrested and released days later,  raising the anger of associations fighting to stamp out the habit.

-0- PANA AC/JSG/MSA/AR 28Mar2019