Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, who on September 5 overthrew President Alpha Condé in power for more than ten years (2010-2021), has so far pledged to hand over power to elected civilians within three years. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in favor of a transition of a shorter duration, had rejected this delay, during a meeting in Accra, without announcing new sanctions against Guinea, already suspended organs of the organization.
“I was in Conakry with the President of the Commission (from ECOWAS) to make the military junta understand the decision of the summit of heads of state that the transition cannot exceed 24 months. They had proposed 36 months, but we managed to convince them“, said Umaro Embalo in Bissau during a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, in full African tour.
The principle is acquired but we were waiting to formalize this by informing the Heads of State at the next ECOWAS meeting before announcing it.
A senior ECOWAS official, on condition of anonymity, told AFP
“Yes, the principle is acquired but we were waiting to formalize this by informing the Heads of State at the next ECOWAS meeting before announcing it“, assured AFP a senior official of the organization on condition of anonymity. The Guinean authorities did not respond to AFP’s requests.
On July 20, mediators from the organization, including former Beninese President Thomas Boni Yayi, Bissau-Guinean Head of State and current President of ECOWAS Umaro Sissoco Embalo, and President of the Commission for ECOWAS, the Gambian Omar Alieu Touray, had met the head of the junta and Guinean officials in Conakry, to discuss the return to power of civilians in Guinea.
No information had filtered until then from their exchanges.
See as well : Guinea: three opponents violently arrested by the police
West Africa has seen a succession of coups by colonels and lieutenant-colonels in less than two years: those of 2020 and 2021 in Bamako, putsch on September 5, 2021 in Conakry, putsch on January 24, 2022 in Ouagadougou .
Since 2020, ECOWAS, alarmed at the risk of contagion in a vulnerable region, has multiplied summits, mediations and pressure to accelerate the return of civilians to the leadership of these countries. In Burkina Faso, West African leaders agreed in early July with the ruling junta in Ouagadougou for a two-year transition from 1is July 2022, instead of the planned three.
The organization also recently lifted its heavy economic and financial sanctions against Mali, after the adoption by the ruling junta of an electoral calendar fixing the presidential election in February 2024, validated by ECOWAS.
Read also: Mali, Burkina, Guinea: ECOWAS considers sanctions
On Thursday, sporadic demonstrations against the junta’s policies took place in Conakry, paralyzing the Guinean capital, despite the authorities’ ban and a strong police force. In several so-called opposition neighborhoods in the capital, clashes broke out between young demonstrators and the police.
Barricades were erected, tires burned, and the police fired tear gas to disperse small mobile groups who were throwing stones at them.
At the end of the afternoon, a press release from the organizers, the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), reported two people injured by live ammunition, including a woman, 33 demonstrators injured by the police and the gendarmerie, 1 policeman injured and 42 people arrested.
See as well : Guinea: “Our transition is not going well, the junta refuses any dialogue”, says Foniké Mengué
This demonstration, at the initiative of the FNDC, an important coalition of parties, trade unions and civil society organizations, aimed in particular to denounce the “unilateral transition management” by the junta as well as its “systematic refusal to open a framework for credible dialogue” to define the terms of the transition.
Three leaders of this movement were violently arrested on July 5, provoking violent spontaneous demonstrations. They had all three been acquitted at the end of a trial where they were judged for “contempt of court“.
The former ruling party, the Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG) and another important coalition of parties, movements and associations, the National Alliance for Alternation and Democracy (Anad), had also called to join the protest movement on Thursday.
See as well : Guinea: the junta temporarily bans political demonstrations