The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspended Guinea’s membership within the bloc on September 8 after a military coup this past weekend. The move comes amid fears of a deterioration of democracy in West African countries, and drawing parallels with recent coups in Mali.
What did ECOWAS say?
ECOWAS “has decided to suspend Guinea from all of its decision-making bodies,” Burkina Faso’s secretary of state Alpha Barry said after the leaders from the 15-member bloc discussed the crisis during a video summit. Barry said the bloc called on the coup leaders to release detained President Alpha Conde.
The bloc urged Guinea “to put in situ a process which will allow a rapid return to normal constitutional order.” ECOWAS is predicted to send a mediation mission to Guinea’s capital, Conakry, on September 9. The United Nations and African Union have also condemned the military coup.
What happened during the military takeover?
Special forces led by light colonel Mamady Doumbouya arrested Conde on September 5. Doumbouya announced the dissolution of the govt during a televised broadcast and therefore the closing of the country’s borders. Doumbouya slammed Conde’s government and said there was “poverty and endemic corruption” under his leadership. He accused Conde’s administration of “trampling on citizens’ rights.”
The ruling junta calls itself the National Committee of Reconciliation and Development. The address came after shots were fired near the presidential palace in Conakry. Guinea’s Defense Ministry insisted that things was in check and claimed government forces “contained the threat.”
Conde, the country’s first democratically-elected leader, came into office in 2010. He won a 3rd term within the October 2020 presidential election, with the opposition claiming fraud and violent protests occurring after the results. The putschists have released a gaggle of “political detainees” who were held in prison under Conde’s government.
Guinea gained independence from France in 1958. Although the country is mineral rich and one among the world’s top suppliers of bauxite, an ore wont to make metals, much of its population lives in poverty.