Kerfalla Camara was a controversial Guinean army general, born in 1941 in Kindia. Companion of President Lansana Conté, he played a key role in the Military Committee for National Recovery (CMRN) which took power during the 1984 coup. Despite his promising beginnings as a minister, he was blown up by a land scandal and was subsequently stripped of power for years.
Kerfalla Camara regained his first logs by being appointed Chief of Staff in 2002, a position from which he led the bloody suppression of the 2007 protests, provoking indignation. Promoted to General of the Army in 2006, he died in 2007 of liver cancer, leaving the image of a faithful supporter of the Conté diet to controversial methods.
Introduction
Kerfalla Camara (born January 1, 1941 in Kindia, Guinea, and died September 10, 2007 in Villepinte, France) was a Guinean army general whose military and political career remains controversial. Companion of President Lansana Conté, Kerfalla Camara played a key role in the tumultuous events that shook Guinea in the 1980s and early 2000s.
Training
From an early age, Kerfalla Camara embraced military career. After joining the Guinean army on 1 October 1959, he was sent to Russia to undertake civil engineering training at the Moscow Military Academy. After graduating as an engineer, he returned to his homeland in 1964 and served as Commander of the Building Engineering and Deputy Officer of the Samory-Touré Camp of Conakry until 1984.
Military carrier
Kerfalla Camara's military career took a decisive turn when he became a member of the Military Committee for National Recovery (CMRN), the military junta that took power during the 1984 coup in Guinea. This committee, composed of 18 members representing the three main tribes of the country, was chaired by Lansana Conté.
Role in CMRN
Upon taking power, young Captain Kerfalla Camara was appointed Minister of Urban Planning and Habitat in the first government of Lansana Conté. However, a scandal quickly erupted, involving a troubled allocation of the "City of Railways", an important land reserve in the heart of Conakry. Although his alleged accomplice, Captain Kabinet Kaba, Governor of the Central Bank, fled the country, Kerfalla Camara remained in Guinea but lost his ministerial chair and good reputation.
Chief of Staff
Despite the controversy, Kerfalla Camara continued his ascension into the Guinean army. After being appointed Inspector General of the Armed Forces at the end of 2000, he was promoted to Chief of Staff in 2002, after a medical trip to Morocco where he was diagnosed with diabetes and liver cancer.
His admission to the post of Chief of Staff sparked tensions within the army, with some soldiers calling this promising promotion one of the reasons for the violent uprising from 2 to 15 May 2007. This insurrection, which killed eight civilians by missing bullets and wounded dozens, almost cost Lansana Conté his chair.
Repression of demonstrators
In January and February 2007, Guinea was shaken by mass demonstrations organized by the trade union headquarters National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG) and Guinean Union of Workers (USTG). During this period of siege that was declared throughout the country, Kerfalla Camara, then Chief of Staff, led a bloody repression with the permission of President Conté. This repression hasly resulted in the deaths of dozens of people and hundreds of injured, as well as in material damage and looting, in particular by military personnel.
Kerfalla Camara's remarks during the crisis shocked public opinion: "No clustering will be tolerated. I have ordered the army to shoot at any gathering of people, however small it may be." This brutal repression has resulted in the general being regarded as one of the main perpetrators of human rights violations during these tragic events.
Ranks
Thro his career, Kerfalla Camara has climbed the military ranks:
- Captain in 1984
- Colonel in 2001
- Brigadier general in 2002
- Major general in 2003
- Lieutenant general in 2006
Death
Kerfalla Camara's health deteriorated rapidly following the population and army uprisings in 2007, which forced him to postpone a medical appointment in Morocco. On 3 September 2007, he was evacuated in a serious condition to France, where he died on 10 September at the military hospital of Val-de-Grâce in Villepinte, aged 66, of liver cancer.
His death caused mixed reactions in Guinea, with some rejoicing over the departure of the leader of the bloody crackdown on the 2007 protests, while others welcomed the memory of a comrade to President Conté.
Conclusion
The figure of Kerfalla Camara remains controversial in Guinea's history. Companion of Lansana Conté, he played a key role in the tumultuous events that marked the country, including the 1984 CMRN seizure of power and the bloody suppression of the protests in 2007. His military and political career has been plagued by scandals, accusations of misappropriation and human rights violations.
Despite criticism, Kerfalla Camara raised the ranks of the Guinean army to the rank of General of the Army Corps, becoming one of the pillars of the Lansana Conté regime. His death in 2007 marked the end of an era for the guinean president, who lost one of his last long-standing supporters.
