CONAKRY, Guinea — As a military mutiny in the west African nation of Guinea drew to a close, diplomatic and Jewish community officials in the region cautiously said that expatriates in the capital city of Conakry seemed to have escaped the unrest relatively unscathed.
Israelis in Guinea Safe After Soldiers’ Mutiny Threatens Capital With Violence
CONAKRY, Guinea — As a military mutiny in the west African nation of Guinea drew to a close, diplomatic and Jewish community officials in the region cautiously said that expatriates in the capital city of Conakry seemed to have escaped the unrest relatively unscathed.
“Right now, things are calming down,” said Rabbi Shlomo Bentolila, the Congo-based co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Central Africa, who maintained contact with a group of some 50 Israelis holed up in a Conakry hotel throughout the ordeal. “Some people were evacuated, but no one was hurt.”
According to Bentolila, anywhere from 50 to 60 Israelis work in Guinea at any one time for a variety of foreign companies with interests in the country. Israel does not have a diplomatic mission in Guinea, instead relying on Ambassador to Senegal Gidon Bahar to take care of matters there.
Bahar told Israel’s Army Radio on Friday that the Israeli businesspeople were not in any danger, The Jerusalem Post reported.
