Guinea colonel: No witch hunt
Regional military commanders replace country’s governors
CONAKRY, Guinea — Guinea’s new military leaders sought to tighten their grip on power Monday after overthrowing President Alpha Conde, ordering the soldiers from his presidential guard to join the junta forces and barring government officials from leaving the country.
After putting the West African nation back under military rule for the first time in more than a decade, the junta already had dissolved the National Assembly and the country’s constitution. On Monday regional military commanders replaced Guinea’s governors as the junta solidified its hold on power.
Junta leader Col. Mamady Doumbouya said the military regime would not pursue vendettas against political enemies, though he also instructed the officials he’d summoned from Conde’s deposed government to turn over their passports immediately.
“There will be no spirit of hatred or revenge. There will be no witch hunt,” said Doumbouya, addressing officials beside a throng of armed soldiers. “But justice will be the compass that will guide every Guinean citizen.”
“For former members of the government, travel outside our borders will not be allowed during the transition,” said Doumbouya, who led the Guinean army’s special forces unit before seizing power Sunday. “All your travel documents and vehicles must be handed over to the general secretaries of your former departments.”
The military junta has refused to issue a timeline for releasing Conde, saying the 83-year-old still had access to medical care and his doctors. But the West African regional bloc known as Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) called for his immediate release and threatened to impose sanctions if the demand was not met.
Conde’s removal came after the president won a controversial third term in office last year, saying the term limit did not apply to him. While the political opposition and the junta both sought his ouster, it remained unclear Monday how united the two would be going forward.
In its first comments since the coup, the longtime opposition National Alliance for Change and Democracy party said Sunday’s government overthrow “carries the hope of a new beginning for our nation.” The party said it would support the junta “in the effort to build a peaceful democracy” but also encouraged the military rulers to rapidly establish the rule of law.
It remained unknown Monday how much support the junta leader had within the overall military. As the commander of the army’s special forces unit, he directed elite soldiers, but it was possible that others who remained loyal to the ousted president could mount a counter coup in the coming days.
In announcing the coup on state television, Doumbouya cast himself as a patriot of Guinea, which he said remained poor despite decades of independence from its former colonizer, France. Observers, though, say the tensions between Guinea’s president and the army colonel stem from a recent proposal to cut some military salaries.
“We will no longer entrust politics to one man. We will entrust it to the people,” he said, draped in a Guinean flag with about a half dozen other soldiers at his side.
The coup was a dramatic setback for Guinea, where many had hoped the country had turned the page on military power grabs.
Conde’s 2010 election victory — the country’s first democratic vote ever — was supposed to be a fresh start after decades of corruption, authoritarian rule and political turmoil. In the years since, though, opponents said Conde also failed to improve the lives of Guineans, most of whom live in poverty despite the country’s vast mineral riches of bauxite and gold.
The year after Conde’s first election, he narrowly survived an assassination attempt when gunmen surrounded his home overnight and pounded his bedroom with rockets. Rocket-propelled grenades landed inside the compound and one of his bodyguards was killed.
Violent street demonstrations broke out last year after Conde organized a referendum to modify the constitution. The unrest intensified after he won the October election, and the opposition said dozens of people were killed during the crisis.
In neighboring Senegal, which has a large diaspora of Guineans who opposed Conde, news of his political demise was met with relief.
“President Alpha Conde deserves to be deposed. He stubbornly tried to run for a third term when he had no right to do so,” said Malick Diallo, a young Guinean shopkeeper in the suburbs of Dakar.
“We know that a coup d’etat is not good,” said Mamadou Saliou Diallo, another Guinean living in Senegal. “A president must be elected by democratic vote. But we have no choice. We have a president who is too old, who no longer makes Guineans dream and who does not want to leave power.”