Multiple deaths were reported in a football match on Sunday in N’Zerekore, Guinea’s second-largest city, located in Guinea’s southeastern region.
Local media said the match was part of a tournament organised in honour of Guinea’s military junta leader, Mamadi Doumbouya, who seized power in a 2021 coup and installed himself as president taking the place of President Alpha Conde, who had appointed Doumbouya to head an elite force tasked with protecting the president from such coups.
The military leader ‘exceptionally’ promoted himself to the rank of lieutenant general in January and last month he elevated himself to the rank of army general.
A witness in an interview with AFP said “It all started with a disputed referee decision. Then fans stormed the pitch.”
One doctor, on condition of anonymity, stated that “There are around 100 dead,” and that the morgue had reached full capacity, with additional bodies strewn across hallways.
Doumbouya is one of several officers who have seized power in West Africa since 2020, along with other military leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
