In Africa, as in many other countries, socio-political actors are forced into exile,  taking refuge in another country – whether on the continent or in the Western world. This is because of their civic engagement activities. Guinean activist Abdoulaye Oumou Sow shares the twists and turns of his experience with Dialogue Migration.

In Guinea Conakry, since the first republic, many citizens have been forced into exile because of their opposition to the power in place. This is the case of Abdoulaye Oumou Sow, activist of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC) who was forced to leave his country because of his opposition to the Transitional Government in place in Guinea, since the coup d’état of Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya on September 5, 2021, against President Alpha Condé.  Doumbouya became president of the National Committee of the Rally for Development (CNRD) and chairperson of the Transition.

Abdoulaye Oumou Sow is a journalist, activist and communications officer of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution in Guinea. He left his country after spending several months  in hiding. Human rights activist Abdoulaye Oumou Sow says he and his FNDC comrades were wanted by his country’s security services on charges of “disturbing public order”. He says, “I left Guinea on December 3, 2022, after spending more than 4 months away from the vigilance of the security services. Because I was wanted by the defense forces and general intelligence. I and my FNDC comrades are accused of wanting to disturb public order.”

Committed against the tampering of the Constitution of his country, the latest being since 2019, and actively sought with his comrades in struggle by the intelligence services, Abdoulaye Oumou Sow, informs that some of his comrades have been arrested, including the national coordinator of the FNDC, Foniké Mangué Sylla and Ibrahima Diallo, the national head of operations. The police subsequently went several times to his home and that of his comrade Mamadou Billo Diallo, and did not find them. They were able to escape arrest thanks to intelligence that was instrumental in keeping them safe.

The FNDC communications officer spent four months in hiding in Conakry. “I came to Labé before going into exile in Dakar and spent a month there before going to France,” explains Abdoulaye Oumou Sow.  The young activist says there are a lot of constraints linked to living in hiding both for himself and his family.  Indeed, the communication officer of the FNDC left his family while his wife was pregnant.  The latter gave birth in his absence. “I left my family while my wife was in an advanced state of fate. She gave birth when I couldn’t attend. The naming ceremony happened without my presence  both for such a happy occasion, but also during the difficult moments  of childbirth. It was a huge moral and psychological stress that weighed on me and my family,” he confesses.

Worse, months after the birth of the baby, defense and security forces fired teargas at his home, he said. His newborn child, who was only two months old, was asphyxiated.  She and her older sister, who had just turned 4, were all traumatized, and sent to the emergency room in the hospital by neighbors, says the young exiled civil society activist.

Constraints and perspectives

Sow says that beyond moral and psychological constraints, he no longer had a life. And no work either “to have income and support your family. You only live on your savings,” says the activist.  Added to this are all the concerns of parents and relatives for your situation and that of your family, he says.

“I have a lot of difficulties,” he said. He says he has lost his job, and currently has no income-generating activity since his forced departure from the country, although he still has personal and family expenses to cover.

“If I had the choice,” he said, “I would have stayed in the country. Because when they arrested our colleagues, I could have immediately left the country. But I had decided to stay for 4 months, to see if the situation would evolve. In order not to settle down and remain more and more in danger, I decided to take shelter,” he says.

The wish of Abdoulaye Oumou Sow, is to return to Guinea and live in peace and tranquility. The young activist recalls that the struggle he is waging with his colleagues and which led him to exile is for peace and tranquility in the Republic of Guinea. But above all for the advent of a democratic state, so that every citizen can enjoy their rights; work in complete freedom, and in compliance with the conventions that Guinea has signed.