A coalition of rights groups urged Guinean authorities on Tuesday to “urgently reveal” the whereabouts of civil society activists Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Billo Bah, who were forcibly disappeared one year ago.
Co-signed by 25 Guinean and international human rights organizations, the statement read:
We call on Guinean authorities to break their unbearable silence regarding the fate of the two FNDC activists. There is no indication that they have carried out investigations to find the two activists who have been missing for a year.
The coalition, including Amnesty International, pressed for the victims and their family members to be provided access to justice by ensuring the suspected perpetrators are brought to justice in a fair trial.
Members of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Billo Bah, were arrested on July 9, 2024, in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. Special forces reportedly took the activists, and they were interrogated and tortured alongside another FNDC member who was released shortly after. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) denounced the “disappearances,” urging that the activists be released. The Prosecutor General announced the launch of an investigation following their detention; however, there has been no updated information on its progress.
The FNDC, a coalition of civil society groups, was formed to protest then-President Alpha Condé’s plan to amend the constitution and run for a third term. The group organized demonstrations and protested human rights violations, and was dissolved in 2022 without any opportunity to challenge the decision.
The statement highlighted several similar incidents of abductions and disappearances that have occurred with no updates or information on the victims’ whereabouts. In December 2024, Habib Marouane Camara, a journalist and managing director of the news website Le Révélateur was abducted by uniformed men. The Dixinn Public Prosecutor’s Office announced they had opened an investigation, noting the arrest was conducted without the constituted authorities’ orders.
The abduction and torture of individuals who have been critical of the government, such as Abdoul Sacko, the national coordinator of the Forum of Social Forces of Guinea, in February 2025, were condemned by the Guinean Bar Association for fueling a “climate of terror that is gradually taking hold in the country.”
In June 2025, Mohamed Traoré, a lawyer, was similarly abducted by armed men, with the public prosecutor again announcing an investigation had been opened. Both men were found severely wounded. Lawyers and political actors have reported receiving threats for their views, with some being notified they are on a list of planned abductions.
Amnesty International noted the frequent use of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions by military authorities in West Africa to target and silence activists, journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders.
