Published on : 09/08/2022 – 23:37
The National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), which denounces the “unilateral management of the transition” by the junta, was dissolved by a government decree authenticated on Tuesday by AFP. This decision comes as the collective was preparing a new event.
The National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), an important group that has been opposing the junta in power for several months in Guinea and who had spearheaded the protest against ex-president Conde (2010-2021), was dissolved by a government decree authenticated Tuesday, August 9 by AFP.
“This decree (…) takes effect from its date of signature” on Saturday, says the document signed by Mory Condé, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization.
The announcement of the dissolution had leaked on Monday evening on social networks following a new call for demonstrations by the FNDC on August 17 throughout Guinea to denounce the “unilateral management of the transition” by the junta, as well as the absence of “credible dialogue” between the junta, political parties and civil society.
The FNDC, a coalition of parties, trade unions and civil society organisations, was behind the demonstrations organized on 28 and 29 July, which were banned by the authorities and where five people were killed.
“Their mode of operation is structured by violent actions during prohibited demonstrations, attacks against individuals who do not share their ideology, and targeted actions against the police,” said the government in this decree. “This de facto group (…) provokes armed demonstrations on public roads and places, having the actions of a combat group and private militias.”
>> To read: In Guinea, the legislative body validates a three-year transition
This collective “endangering national unity, public peace and living together, does not appear on the list of NGOs in Guinea, nor on the list of association collectives (…) and even less in the directory NGOs approved in the Republic of Guinea”, adds Mory Condé.
“A blow to freedom”
“We are not commenting on this decree of the minister, we do not feel concerned”, reacted to AFP Abdoulaye Oumou Sow, in charge of communication for the collective.
Cellou Dalein Diallo, Guinea’s main opponent under former President Alpha Condé, condemned this decision, saying it was “a blow to freedom, justice, democracy and peace” on social networks.
“For us, being part of a logic of confiscating the freedoms of citizens or silencing all dissonant voices will only further complicate the situation”, reacted the Guinean Organization for the Defense of Human and Citizen Rights. (OGDH), who says she is “very concerned” by “the turn of events”.
Two of the FNDC leaders, Oumar Sylla alias Foniké Mangué and Ibrahima Diallo, have been detained since the last demonstrations in the civil prison of Conakry after being charged with “participation in a prohibited assembly, looting, destruction of public and private property, intentional assault and battery”.
A lack of dialogue
The collective had suspended its protest movements for a week, including that planned throughout the country on August 4, “at the express request” of the Bissau-Guinean head of state. Umaro Sissoco Embalocurrent President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
This truce had the “sole purpose of giving the ECOWAS mediation to find a favorable outcome to the crisis in Guinea“, had said the FNDC.
Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, who overthrew Alpha Condé in power since 2010 on September 5, has pledged to hand over power to elected civilians within three years.
ECOWAS thus called on August 1 “the Guinean authorities, the political class and civil society to engage in an inclusive dialogue in order to defuse tension and agree on a timetable and reasonable modalities for the peaceful restoration of constitutional order. “.
But the junta refuses “to respond to the numerous calls for dialogue on the transition”, denounced the FNDC on Monday in a press release also criticizing the “chronic attitude of mistrust” of the Guinean government vis-à-vis ECOWAS, its “management unilateral and authoritarian transition” and “the illegal use of lethal weapons in the management of demonstrations”.
In addition to opening a “credible dialogue” with political actors and civil society and setting a reasonable and consensual deadline for the duration of the transition, the FNDC demands from the junta the unconditional release of all its militants. arrested during the latest demonstrations.
With AFP