Guinea suspended by African Union and Ecowas following recent military coup

GUINEA has been suspended from the African Union (AU) following the recent military coup in the country that resulted in Lt Col Mamady Doumbouya seizing power and arresting President Alpha Conde.

In what is a break from a commitment by African countries to allow democracy to thrive, the Guinean military toppled the government over the weekend.  AU leaders have already made it clear that military intervention in politics in unacceptable across the continent and West African envoys have begun arriving in Guinea to mediate in the crisis.

Already, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has suspended Guinea and now the AU has followed suit. Ecowas Commission president Jean-Claude Kassi Brou is part of the regional delegation that has just arrived in Conakry, the Guinean capital, alongside the Nigerian, Ghanaian, Burkinabe and Togolese foreign ministers.

On Wednesday, Ecowas called for President Conde’s immediate and unconditional release. It also demanded the immediate return to constitutional order and asked that the security forces maintain a constitutional posture.

Guinea’s putschists have formed a junta which has dissolved the government and the constitution, accusing the Conde government of endemic corruption and of trampling on citizens’ rights. Lt Col Doumbouya has pledged to open talks on forming a new government but it is not yet clear when, or under what form, these may take place.

When faced with a similar predicament in Mali last year, Ecowas imposed economic sanctions on the country but lifted them after the military regime committed to restoring civilian rule. Mali held parliamentary elections on 29 March 2020 and presidential polls are due to take place in March 2022, signalling a complete end to military rule.

Public discontent in Guinea had been brewing for months over a Covid-hit economy and the leadership of President Conde, who became the first democratically elected president in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015. Last year, President Conde pushed through a new constitution that allowed him to run for a third term in October 2020, which sparked mass demonstrations in which dozens of protesters were killed.

Last year, President Conde won the elections but the political opposition maintained that the poll was a sham. After the recent coup, the military junta freed about 80 political activists detained under President Conde, banned ex-ministers from leaving the country and temporarily froze ex-ministers’ bank accounts.

However, Lt Col Doumbouya has promised there will be no witch hunt against members of the former regime and has also guaranteed the safety of President Conde. So far, the coup has been popular but President Conde's RPG party has warned against trusting the military’s promises of a transition.