Ask: Where are Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Billo Bah?

Oumar Sylla, also known as Foniké Mengué, and Mamadou Billo Bah are two key figures of Guinean civil society. On 9 July 2024, they were arrested by defense and security forces while at Oumar Sylla’s home in Conakry. According to the testimony of Mohamed Cissé, another activist who was arrested with them and released two days later with serious injuries, they were reportedly taken by members of the defense and security forces to a detention site located in the Loos archipelago. Since that date, no one knows where they are. The authorities deny holding them. This is a clear case of enforced disappearance. Demand that the Guinean authorities disclose their fate and, if they are in detention, release them immediately and unconditionally.

What’s the problem?

On the very day of their arrest, Oumar Sylla had been calling on social media for people to wear red on 11 July to protest peacefully against media repression, power cuts, and the high cost of living. The enforced disappearance of the two members of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC) is part of a wider wave of repression against critical voices in Guinea: suspension of media outlets, arbitrary arrests and detentions of activists and journalists, a blanket ban on demonstrations, excessive use of force, protesters killed, restrictions on internet access…

Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Billo Bah are being targeted solely for their activism and their criticism of the Guinean authorities.

What can you do?

Send a message to the Guinean authorities demanding that the fate of Oumar Sylla and Mamadou Billo Bah be disclosed and, if they are detained, calling for their immediate release.