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Guinea: Did Alpha Conde bite off more than he could chew?

President Alpha Conde of Guinea spoke in an exclusive interview with Africanews Nathalie Wakam in January 2020. In that interview Mr. Conde justified the need for a review of his country’s constitution, the subsequent changes of which allowed him to run for a controversial third term in 2020. He was declared winner of the election in a landslide in October and was sworn in December.

At his swearing-in ceremony, the then 82-year-old appealed for unity as he called on Guineans to “forget the past” and turn towards “a united future”.But that call does not seem to have been heeded.

On Sunday September 5 after heavy gunfire around Conde’s presidential palace, the Guinean leader was arrested by soldiers who announced a take over of power.

Lieutenant-colonel Mamady Doumbouya, the high-ranking officer behind the military coup promised the following day (Monday) to set up a unity government to oversee a transition period and vowed there would be no “witch hunt” against the former government.

“A consultation will be launched to set down the broad parameters of the transition, and then a government of national union will be established to steer the transition,” Lieutenant-colonel Mamady Doumbouya said in a speech, but he did not say how long the consultation or the handover would last.

The coup has been condemned by regional groups Ecowas, AU and also the UN. But many Guineans took the streets after some calm on Sunday evening to celebrate Alpha Conde’s ouster from power.

The population had been largely frustrated by last years constitutional change that allowed Conde to run for a third term. The resulting protests led to at least 92 deaths and several arrests according to a leading opposition group the anti-Conde coalition FNDC.

Colonel Mamady Dumbaya who staged the coup heads Guinea’s special forces unit. He said his soldiers had seized power because they want to ‘end rampant corruption and mismanagement’.

But this is a dramatic setback for the west african nation where many had hoped the country had turned the page on military power grabs.

Guinea now follows countries like Zimbabwe, Mali and Sudan where the military has directly participated in the sacking of civiian-led democratic governments.

Conde, a former historical opponent was elected in 2010, as the first democratic president of the former French colony

Ten years later, his reputation as an uncompromising opponent, who was in exile for many years and then imprisoned under the military regime of Lansana Conté (1984-2008), has been tarnished by accusations that he plunged his country into crisis in order to cling to power. Conde contests this claim.

During the campaign for his re-election in October 2020. He reminded his supporters and detractors how he fought for 45 years. “I was an opponent, my opponents are civil servants who became prime ministers after having brought the country down. It is extraordinary that I am considered an anti-democratic dictator!” he launched.

Sourced from Africanews

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