Women raped in Guinea crackdown

Women were stripped naked. The soldiers were putting their rifles in the vaginas of these women, says opposition activist Mouctar Diallon.

Women were brutally raped by soldiers during violent repression of an anti-junta demonstration in Guinea that left more than 120 people dead, according to opposition groups and witnesses.

- They were raping women publicly - opposition activist Mouctar Diallon in an interview with French radio station RFI. "Soldiers were shooting everywhere and I saw people fall. They were live bullets," Diallo added.

An opposition party led by former prime minister Sydia Toure said at least 128 people had died in the violence and the junta was removing bodies in a bid to hide 'the scale of the massacre'. The party also accused junta forces of rape.

The rapes began in the stadium where opposition supporters had gathered Monday for a demonstration, said Mamadi Kaba, the head of the Guinean branch of the African Encounter for the Defence of Human Rights (RADDHO), based in Dakar.

Many soldiers and policemen do not approve of the rapes

- The military raped women at the stadium, then in army barracks, police posts and in suburbs of the capital Conakry, Kaba said.

Asked who was carrying out these atrocities, Diallo said 'it's the presidential guard" and "police officers.' Diallo was wounded and arrested during the crackdown, but he returned to his home from hospital during the night.

- The military is going into districts, looting goods and raping women. We have similar reports from several sources, including police sources and some close to the military - Kaba said.

- Many soldiers and policemen do not approve of that (the rapes) - he added.

Tens of thousands of people were gathered in the September 28 stadium in Conakry for a rally against junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara when shots were fired on Monday.

The United Nations, African Union, European Union and leading powers all condemned the killings which the Guinea opposition said was a deliberate attempt to eliminate them.