In Guinea, the authorities have destroyed residences in the ministerial city in Conakry. These demolitions are part of their operation to recover state property launched in 2021. According to the authorities, these buildings were no longer up to standard. Opponent Cellou Dalein Diallo says his house was demolished.
These are images of rubble, ruins, collapsed walls that come from the Ministerial City in Conakry, where several wealthy residences have been demolished. One witness even said he saw people leaving the area with their personal belongings.
Opposition politician Cellou Dalein Diallo said his residence was one of the targeted homes. The politician had contested the authorities’ expropriation project and said that these demolitions were taking place while “the case is still under investigation.
According to him, the operation began with the arrival of dozens of gendarmes and police pick-ups, followed by technicians from Electricité de Guinée who disconnected the power. Then, earth-moving machinery arrived, entered the concession with police and gendarmes, and demolished the house and its annexes. “They are nothing more than piles of rubble,” said Cellou Dalein Diallo. His UFDG party has released photos of the destroyed residence.
On Saturday evening, the transitional authorities confirmed the destruction of some of the housing in the ministerial compound. The official reason given was that they “no longer met housing standards,” an argument disputed by Cellou Dalein Diallo.
The government says that the occupants had vacated the premises by Friday, but that some had damaged most of the property and that as a result, the housing had become uninhabitable. The transitional authorities cite damaged doors, ceilings, and windows, and say that new infrastructure that complies with the law will be built in their place.