Conakry, Guinea (CNN) -- Authorities in the west African nation of Guinea have declared a state of emergency amid post-election violence that has killed at least nine people, the government said Wednesday on national radio.
"The president of the republic can take, by order, any measure necessary to defend the integrity of the national territory and to re-establish and maintain public order," a senior government official read Wednesday afternoon on state radio.
Supporters of rival Guinean presidential candidates have clashed with each other and with security forces in Conakry, the capital, and other cities in northern Guinea, since Monday, when Alpha Conde was declared the winner of the November 7 runoff election. At least nine people have been killed in the past three days.
Almost all shops and businesses are closed and residents are indoors. An overnight curfew has been imposed.
Thierno Barry, a doctor at Clinique Dixinn in Conakry, said that he personally had transported five dead bodies since Monday. He said they had all been killed by gunshot wounds from Guinean security forces.
Another doctor, Mory Kaba, who works at Ratoma hospital, said his hospital has seen one dead and over 30 wounded in the past 48 hours.
Cellou Dalein Diallo, the defeated candidate who is contesting the election results, told reporters Wednesday that at least 18 of his supporters have been killed by security forces since Monday in his strongholds in Conakry and the northern towns of Labe, Dalaba and Pita.
A spokesman for the Guinean government said that he did not think any security forces fired on Diallo's supporters.
CNN
