1,557 pardoned illegal gold miners escorted to the Guinean border
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Africaguinée and Mosaiqueguinee
A convoy of 44 vehicles on Saturday 14 November took 1,557 foreign nationals, pardoned by President Mamadi Doumbouya, to the Guinean border at Kourémalé, according to DIRPA as cited by Africaguinée. The Burkina Faso consulate followed the operation, and Malian and Burkinabe authorities were present to welcome their nationals.
To secure the transfer, the authorities mobilised land vehicles, with aerial surveillance along the entire route. The convoy had left Conakry the previous day before reaching Kourémalé on Saturday.
These men, of several nationalities, had been arrested in areas of illegal gold mining. Despite this pardon, they remain required to serve what is left of their sentences in their home country, DIRPA recalled. The operation comes as a trial of 1,200 illegal gold miners opened in Conakry on 12 November.
The handover took place calmly, without incident, according to observers on the spot. On arrival, several of them expressed their relief and praised the leniency of the Guinean state, as well as that of President Mamadi Doumbouya.
