Peace Corps Guinea program officially suspended

---

We've been in Mali for about two and a half weeks now, waiting to see if the situation in Guinea cools down enough for us to go back. We could officially wait up to four weeks, but it was announced yesterday that we officially will not be going back.

President Conte had until Sunday to name a Prime Minister, and Friday night he named Eugene Camara, a close crony and former Minister to the President. The agreement with trade unions required the President to name someone who had never worked for the current regime, so this appointment was immediately rejected. For the unions this move is indicative of the President's unwillingness to cooperate with the people, therefore they have reverted to their original demand that Conte resign. Protests/riots erupted all over the country on Saturday. Several people were killed, more buildings were destroyed, and more things were set on fire.

As Conte still controls the military (including a number of mercenaries from Guinea-Bassau and Liberia), last night he announced martial law in Guinea. This includes a 20-hour per day curfew, meaning people are only allowed to leave their homes between 4 and 8 pm. Protesting is forbidden, as is traveling by car.

Yesterday the US Embassy in Conakry announced a forced departure for all official americans, meaning the Peace Corps program must necessarily be suspended. The situation will be reevaluated after at least three months. If things have stabilized at that time, the Guinea program may be reopened with a new group of volunteers.

The 80 or so volunteers still waiting in Mali now have a few options: we can go home now, try to transfer to PC in another country, or take a 3-month temporary assignment in another country with hope that Guinea reopens. Changing countries in the middle of your PC service is known to be difficult, both logistically and emotionally. Fifty percent of volunteers who manage to get a transfer drop out before the end of their service. For this reason, most of my friends are choosing to go home. Personally I have nowhere to be for the next year and a half so I'll probably check out this three-month temporary assignment.

Processing all of the volunteers who are going home requires a crapload of paperwork and medical examinations, so it will take at least a week before they even get to the people who are looking at staying. So for now I know I'm not going back to Guinea, but I don't know where I'm going or what I'll be doing. I'm sad to have had to leave my village, my host family, and my students in the middle of the year. I'm concerned for our Guinean PC staff and their families who are great, intelligent people stuck in Conakry during this terrible time. I sincerely hope that the problems in Guinea will be resolved quickly and without much more violence.

For details on Guinea, you can check the bbc website or guineenews.org.

---