Strasbourg, 23/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - With the unanimous adoption on Thursday 22 October in Strasbourg of a common resolution by the EPP, S&D, ALDE, Greens/EFA, ECR and GUE/NGL groups, the European Parliament condemned the bloody and deadly repression of unarmed demonstrators as well as all acts of sexual violence against women and girls. It calls for medical and psychological assistance to be set in place for rape victims and invites the Commission to launch specific programmes as a matter of urgency for rehabilitation of women who have fallen victim to violence in Guinea.
The Parliament welcomes the press release issued by the International Contact Group for Guinea (ICG-G) following its meeting on the Guinean crisis, held on 13 October 2009 in Abuja, in which it calls on the military junta to release all persons arbitrarily detained, especially those detained in relation to the events of 28 September 2009, in Conakry. It also urges the junta to set in place by Friday 16 October 2009 arrangements for its exclusion from presidential elections in January 2010. Parliament welcomes the fact that an independent international committee of inquiry has been set in place by the UN to establish who was responsible for the massacre.
Parliament calls on the Council to take “appropriate measures” as set out in Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement and to study the possibilities of meeting the request of ECOWAS by organising a mission to support an African force to protect the population, in order to give this force all necessary means for accomplishment of its mission, as well as a longer term civilian mission to contribute to the organisation of security forces. During the debate, Commissioner Leonard Orban said that aid under the fisheries protocol was suspended by the Commission, but Parliament rejected the EPP's request (33 votes to 34 and 6 abstentions) for a paragraph calling for suspension of application of the fisheries protocol until the democratisation process is well and truly up and running.
The European Parliament invites the African Union, in collaboration with ECOWAS, to impose severe sanctions on the personnel of the military junta and to organise, in parallel, national dialogue within the framework of a “truth and reconciliation” committee. It calls on all states to suspend arms and munitions deliveries intended for the army and police force, and of all other equipment that could be used by security forces in Guinea to commit human rights violations. (O.J./transl.jl)