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Conakry, Guinea | THE INDEPENDENT AND AGENCIES | The person said to be leading the ongoing military coup in Guinea Conakry is reportedly Lt colonel Mamady Doumbouya.
“The personalization of political life is over. We will no longer entrust politics to one man, we will entrust it to the people,” Doumbouya said on state television Sunday. He said he was acting in the best interests of the nation of over 12.7 million people.
He said they have dissolved the constitution and the government in an apparent coup. He said they planned to form a transitional government and would give further details later.
The first footage of the President of #Guinea Alpha Condé arrested by the military appeared on social networks. pic.twitter.com/heTf0KT3ZR
— Magombe (@ncambirwa) September 5, 2021
Video of people cheering for the military in the streets of Conakry in Guinea Africa after the arrest of President Alpha Condé. pic.twitter.com/lKDim3VArA
— Magombe (@ncambirwa) September 5, 2021
Mamady Doumbouya was a corporal in the Foreign Legion in France before Alpha Conde appointed him battalion commander when he returned to his native country in 2018.
A year later, in 2019, Doumbouya was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and then promoted to colonel in 2020.
After the military high command gave Conde lukewarm support in his bid for a third term, he purged the presidential guard and create a group of special forces that Doumbouya was posted to, who were loyal and well-equipped to him.
Earlier, Xinhua had reported that Guinea’s defense ministry said in an official press release that “the Presidential Guard, supported by the defense and security forces, contained the threat and pushed back the group of insurgents.”
According to the statement, it was in the early hours of the day that Conakry, the capital, has witnessed heavy gunfire perpetrated by elements of the Special Forces Group.
The defense ministry specified in the press release that “the insurgents sowed fear and disturbed the peace of the people on the outskirts of the Presidential Palace”.
“Security and sweeping operations are continuing to restore order and peace” and the President of the Republic, Alpha Conde called on the people to calm and asked them to vigilance during military operations.
Earlier, “army putschists” said that they had captured Guinea’s president and dissolved the government, according to media reports.
Heavy gunfire from automatic weapons was heard on Sunday in the urban commune of Kaloum, downtown Conakry, in Guinea. According to a witness contacted by telephone by Xinhua, these shots came from the military garrison known as “Camp Almamy Samory Toure”, which houses the defense ministry and the national army staff.
Africa seems to be getting back to where it was a few decades ago; a continent of coups and civil wars. Much as the ressons for these may be genuine; these approaches will continue to set us backwards. I pray that Guinea remains peaceful and other countries that seem to have fertile grounds for coups and civil wars are learning a lesson or two about the dangers of tinkering with the constitution just to cling onto power.