Conakry, Guinea, April 1984

"This photograph went around the world. Other countries in Africa used it to deliver a message: 'Look, you can erase dictatorship.'

Ahmed Sekou Touré ruled over Guinea for 25 years. His unexplained death while he was traveling abroad left a vacuum favorable to confrontations over power. We were about a hundred journalists authorized to cover his funerals, after which we had to depart the country leaving the struggle for power succession to the darkness of misinformation. I pleaded a physical ailment to stay a few more days. Three days later, a military coup d’etat got the better of the claimants to the dictatorial throne. In the streets, the freed population sang and danced to the rhythms of Bob Marley and drums. Any reminder of the man who had ruled in terror was erased."