COLONEL MAMADY DOUMBOUYA, Guinea’s military coup leader, at the moment, appears a soldier’s soldier and a politician’s dream of how to harness and exercise power. On Friday, September 17, 2021, two presidents, on behalf of West African leaders – Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana; and Alassane Quattara, Ivorian President; met with Doumbouya, in the Guinean capital, Conakry.
The leaders were in Guinea, after the West African leaders’ regional summit, on Thursday, to press on Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, who led the military coup that ousted President Alpha Conde from office, on September 5, 2021, to organize elections within six months, and return the country to civil rule. In an apparent show of will, the West African leaders failed to extract commitment from Doumbouya.
At the summit, the West African leaders moved against the military junta, and urged its leader, Mamady Doumbouya, to swiftly organize elections within six months. They announced sanctions on the coup leaders. They also demanded the release of Conde from detention; the man the military believed led a systematic denigration of the national hope. The military leaders seemed not to be in any hurry in deciding the next move towards civil rule.
SPOKESMAN of the coup leaders, Colonel Amara Camara, at a news conference, on Saturday, said Doumbouya told the visiting delegation that “it was important for ECOWAS to listen to the legitimate aspirations of the people of Guinea”. He also, told the delegation that there was the need not to repeat the “mistakes of the past”, apparently referring to Conde’s muzzling of democracy in the country.
The military coup leaders said national consultations to outline the transition to civil rule in the country was ongoing. And noted that “only the sovereign people of Guinea will decide its destiny”. On the release of Alfa Conde, as demanded by the ECOWAS leaders, the military spokesman said: “It is also clear to all parties that the former president will remain in Guinea.”
President Nana Akufo-Addo, present chairman of ECOWAS, speaking to journalists, on the outcome of the visit said: “We had very frank, fraternal talks with Colonel Doumbouya and his associates and collaborators, and I think that ECOWAS and Guinea will find a way to walk together”.
Ivorian President Quattara said the talks went “very well”. Both leaders also met the ousted President Alpha Conde, and said “he is well”. President Akufo-Addo added: “We leave with the hope that the new Guinean authorities have understood that it is necessary to act quickly and well. We are sticking to the release of Mr Conde”.
THE GUINEAN new military leaders have designated Mamady Doumbouya, as “president of the republic and head of state”. And in the manner of a military politician, Doumbouya launched consultations with political parties, religious leaders, heads of mining companies, key economic players and other stakeholders in the country.
He also scheduled consultations with banks, insurance companies and unions. And is continuing his consultations with cultural actors, press associations and the informal sector. Doumbouya played down the threat of sanctions on the leaders of the coup by ECOWAS. He said “as soldiers, their work is in Guinea and there is nothing to freeze in their accounts”.
On seizing power from Conde, September 5, 2021, Doumbouya said the “National Committee of Reconciliation and Development, CNRD, was forced to take its responsibility”; after “the dire political situation of our country, the instrumentalization of the judiciary, the non-respect of democratic principles, the extreme politicization of public administration as well as poverty and corruption.”
Justifying while the military struck, Doumbouya quoted late Jerry Rawlings, former Ghanaian president, who led a military coup to took over the affairs of leadership in the country as a military officer; that “if the people are crushed by their elites, it is up to the army to give the people their freedom”.
BEFORE THE GUINEA military junta, ECOWAS and the Continent leaders, could be having credibility question. The regional body and the continent leaders, watched Conde stifled democracy in Guinea. He toyed with the country’s constitution to run for a third term in office, and he got it.
Both ECOWAS and the continents leaders backed the fraudulent official result of the election that gave Conde third term. France, European Union and the United States, seriously doubted the credibility of the election results. Conde threw the country into political turmoil. At the swearing-in of Conde for third term in office, a number of African leaders were present.
ECOWAS and the continent leaders present intervention, and the conditions given to the military junta for taking over power in Guinea, could amuse the coup leaders; as well as, opposition leaders and civil society activists, that Conde oppressed, to subvert the will of the Guinean people, in pursuit of his third term presidential ambition.
