Operation Green Sea (), also known as the Battle of Conakry, was an amphibious attack on

Conakry Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of the 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973. The current population of C ...

, the capital of

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

, by between 350 and 420 Portuguese soldiers and Portuguese-led Guinean fighters in November 1970. The goals of the operation included the overthrow of

Ahmed Sékou Touré Ahmed Sékou Touré (var. Sheku Turay or Ture; N'Ko: ; 9 January 1922 – 26 March 1984) was a Guinean political leader and African statesman who was the first president of Guinea from 1958 until his death in 1984. Touré was among the primary ...

's government, capture of the leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), Amílcar Cabral, destruction of the naval and air assets of the PAIGC and its Guinean supporters, and the rescue of Portuguese

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

held in

. The attackers withdrew after rescuing the POWs and destroying some PAIGC ships and Guinean Air Force infrastructure, but failed to capture Amílcar Cabral, the leader of PAIGC guerrillas (who was in Europe at the time), or to topple the regime of Guinean leader Ahmed Sékou Touré.

Background

In 1952,

became the leader of the Guinean Democratic Party (PDG). In 1957, Guinea had an election in which the PDG won 56 of 60 seats. The PDG conducted a plebiscite in September 1958 by which Guineans overwhelmingly opted for immediate independence rather than for continued association with France. The French withdrew and, on 2 October 1958, Guinea proclaimed itself a sovereign and independent republic with Touré as its president. In 1960, Touré welcomed to Guinea and provided support to Amílcar Cabral and his organization, the PAIGC, which was seeking the independence of Portuguese

(now

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

) and

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

from the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...

. In 1963, the PAIGC began the

Guinea-Bissau War of Independence The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence (), also known as the Bissau-Guinean War of Independence, was an armed independence conflict that took place in Portuguese Guinea from 1963 to 1974. It was fought between Portugal and the African Party for t ...

Attack

On the night of 21–22 November 1970 about 200 armed Guineans—attired in uniforms similar to those of the Guinean Army and commanded by Portuguese officers—and 220 African and European Portuguese soldiers invaded some points around Conakry. The soldiers disembarked from four unmarked ships, including an LST and a cargo vessel, and destroyed 4 or 5 PAIGC supply vessels. Others landed near President Touré's summer house, which they burnt. The invaders concentrated on destroying the headquarters of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands (Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e do Cabo-Verde — PAIGC) in an unsuccessful attempt to capture PAIGC leader Amilcar Cabral, who was in Europe at the time. Others seized the political prison camps and liberated a number of prisoners, including 26 Portuguese POWs held at

Camp Boiro Camp Boiro or Camp Mamadou Boiro (1960–1984) is a defunct Guinean concentration camp in the city of Conakry. During the regime of President Ahmed Sékou Touré, thousands of political opponents were imprisoned at the camp. It has been estimated t ...

, who had been captured earlier by PAIGC forces and turned over to the Guineans for safekeeping; some had been held captive in these camps for as long as seven years. The main attacking force reached but ignored the airport and apparently attacked what they thought was the operative radio station, unaware that its use had been discontinued when replaced earlier by a new station. At this point, half of the invading force withdrew with the released prisoners to the waiting ships, leaving the task of overthrowing the Guinean government to a force estimated at fewer than 150 men. This group apparently hoped for an uprising by the population, but such a reaction failed to occur. Outside observers have speculated that public support was not achieved because the invaders failed to seize the right radio station, which continued to operate under government control. Moreover, most important government or party officials avoided capture. Since both Cabral and Touré couldn't be found, the Portuguese raiders retreated after suffering minor casualties.

Consequences

Internal purges in Guinea

Within a week of the invasion, Touré set up a ten-person committee: the ''Haut-Commandement'' (High Command). Staffed with loyal members of the Political Bureau, the High Command ran Guinea by decree. The High Command oversaw arrests, detentions without trial, and executions. The High Command's actions decimated the ranks of government and police officials. Notable among the victims were the President of the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea and the Minister of Finance Ousmane Baldé. After a five-day trial, on 23 January 1971, the ''Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal'' ordered 29 executions (carried out three days later), 33 death sentences ''in absentia'', 68 life sentences at hard labour, and 17 orders of confiscation of all property. The captured Guinean nationals who joined the Portuguese-African troops and had defected to the Portuguese side of the operation received life sentences at hard labour in Guinea. Eighty-nine of those charged were released, but dissidents say some people "disappeared" into prison or were executed extrajudicially. Those sentenced to execution included members of the governing party (including the neighbourhood party chiefs in Conakry), Conakry's Chief of Police, a secretary to the President, an assistant minister of finance, and at least five Guinean soldiers. Those who had their property confiscated were either French or Lebanese. The fate of other Europeans who were arrested is unknown. Among those who received life sentences were former government Ministers, heads of state industries, a former regional governor, and the top two officials of the National Museum. In July 1971, Touré purged the army of some of its officers. In April 1973, he purged his regime of some of its ministers.

Political condemnation

On 8 December 1970, the

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

passed Resolution 290, which condemned Portugal for the invasion of Guinea, and called upon Portugal to respect the principles of self-determination and independence with regard to

Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Guinea (), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a Portuguese overseas province in West Africa from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as G ...

. On 11 December 1970, the

Organization of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; , OUA) was an African intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and ec ...

(OAU) passed a resolution unanimously condemning the invasion.

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

offered support to Guinea-Conakry and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

sent warships to the area (known by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

as the West Africa Patrol) to prevent further military operations against Touré's regime and against the PAIGC bases in Guinea.

References

External links

Recollections of Portuguese soldiers

* João Tunes
Guiné 63/74 - DCCXXXII: Onde é que vocês estavam em 22 de Novembro de 1970 ?
Luís Graça & Camaradas da Guiné, 4 May 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-18. * João Tunes

2 May 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-18. * Carlos Fortunato

Crónica de Carlos Fortunato, ex-furriel da CCaç. 13. 24 February 2003, revised 21 July 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-18. {{Portuguese Colonial War, state=expanded Green Sea 1970s in Portuguese Guinea Conakry 1970 in Portugal 1970 in Guinea Green Sea

Failed assassination attempts in Africa Wars involving Guinea

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Colonial War Green Sea November 1970 in Africa Green Sea