Colonel Mamady Doumbouya intends to transfer power to a civilian government in three years and three months

Guinea-Conakry's coup leader presents 39-month transitional roadmap

photo_camera PHOTO/GUINEAN GOVERNMENT - Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, leader of the coup that deposed President Alpha Condé in September, presents his proposal for a political transition in Guinea-Conakry

The uncertain phase into which Guinea-Conakry was plunged on 5 September as a result of the coup d'état against former president Alpha Condé, yet another in a region recently shaken by this phenomenon, seems to be clearing up. Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, the head of the military junta that has been pulling the country's strings ever since, outlined his plan for a 39-month political transition to a civilian government in the face of opposition rejection by the opposition and the initial misgivings of the international community.

In an address to the nation late on Saturday, Colonel Doumbouya outlined his plans for the next three years and three months, which include transferring full powers to a civilian authority elected at the ballot box. "From all the consultations carried out at all levels since the beginning of the transition with all the components of the nation, with all Guineans wherever they are, an intermediate proposal for a consensual duration of the transition of 39 months has emerged," the military leader said in justifying his decision.

External pressures for the country to move towards a democratic regime have conditioned the strategy of the National Committee for Regroupment and Development (CNRD), the military body at the helm of the state. Doumbouya assured that the military junta would submit its proposal for consultation to a provisional parliament made up of 81 members of political parties, civil society groups, trade unions, employers and the security forces, among others.

The rejection of the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), the main opposition bloc, which accused the colonel of representing a "threat to peace and national unity" by contravening constitutional precepts, was not long in coming. The movement led the mass protests against former president Condé in 2019, when he amended the Magna Carta to extend his stay in power beyond the two-five-year limit, and also in 2020, when the new constitution was approved.

Colonel Doumbouya's moves come in response to continued pressure from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which aims to see an "acceptable" transitional roadmap for Guinea-Conakry. ECOWAS set a deadline for the local authorities to submit the plan, but the deadline for submission expired on 25 April without any notification from the military junta, which demanded "more time".

Guinea-Conakri

Failure to meet this deadline could lead to new sanctions against the country by ECOWAS, which has already imposed a series of economic restrictions on those responsible for committing the uprising after the overthrow of the then president, Alpha Condé, the first Guinean leader to be elected through a democratic process, but who, over time, tarnished his image by mixing personalist behaviour with forceful police repression.

Reaction is still awaited to the announcement by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), whose pronouncement last March made clear its concern over the democratic regression in the country as a result of the coup d'état and demanded that the new military authority establish a civilian executive within six months. The event prompted both ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) to suspend Guinea-Conakry's membership.

On 5 September, Colonel Doumbouya, commander of the army's Special Forces, led the uprising that resulted in the capture and subsequent expulsion of President Condé with the massive support of the Guinean people, dissolving the government of Prime Minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana and the National Assembly along the way, suspending the constitution and closing the borders. On 17 September, he proclaimed himself president of the Republic and new head of state. And finally, on 1 October, he was sworn in as the leader of the transition, assuming omnipotent power.

Trained at the Paris War College and dressed in his characteristic smoked sunglasses, the protagonist of the third coup d'état in Guinea's 63 years of independence is consolidating his position at the head of one of the poorest countries in the world, at the bottom of the human development ranking despite having significant mineral reserves and being the world's second largest exporter of bauxite, the main raw material for producing aluminium. This potential has attracted the interest of China.

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