At least 95 killed in ethnic clashes in Guinea

At least 95 people have been killed and several hundred others have been wounded in inter-ethnic clashes in Guinea. An official communique circulated late night says the riots erupting in the hard-of-access southeastern region of the country were partly due to a large flow of arms in the region. It is believed that former rebels from Liberia as well as fighters trained under a former Guinean junta leader were involved. Liberian gunmen left out of work were selling weapons to local residents to get money for food. Clashes began in Nzerekore in the so-called Forest region on July 15, when members of the Guerze ethnic group beat to death a young man from the Koniake ethnic group after accusing him of stealing from a gas station. The killed were being buried in a hurry in common graves, so it is difficult to give the exact number of the dead.