The head of the military junta, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, in command of Guinea since the coup on September 5, 2021, proposed late this Saturday, through a message addressed to the nation, a 39-month transition to transfer powers to a civilian government elected at the polls. The president announced that he will submit his initiative for consultation before a provisional Parliament. The opposition expressed its rejection and demands a transition supported by the international community.
Three years and three months. That is the estimated time proposed by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, head of the military junta that has ruled in Guinea since the coup of September 5, 2021, to carry out a transition to a civilian government.
Through a televised message broadcast late on Saturday, Doumbouya stressed that “from all the consultations carried out at all levels since the beginning of the transition with all the components of the nation, with all Guineans wherever they are, an intermediate proposal has emerged of an agreed duration of the transition of 39 months”.
The board made public on Friday that it had received “proposals” in an “inclusive” forum to develop a transition process between 18 and 52 months.
🇬🇳 | URGENT: The head of Guinea’s military junta, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, announced in a speech that he had opted for a 39-month transition period before returning to civilian rule, adding the National Transitional Council would send the proposal to parliament .
— Alert News 24 (@AlertaNews24) May 1, 2022
During his message to the nation, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya also reported that his transition proposal should first be voted on and approved by a provisional Parliament made up of 81 members, including civil society groups, personalities from different political parties, employers businessmen, unions and members of the security forces.
The National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), the main Guinean opposition bloc, immediately rejected Doumbouya’s intentions, whom, through a statement, they accused of being a “threat to peace and national unity” and of violating the precepts of the Constitution.
The Guinean opposition demands a transition within a framework of inclusive dialogue under the supervision of the international community, according to the local news portal ‘Africaguinee’.
The institutional distrust towards the Doumbouya regime
The decision of the head of the military junta was announced after the demand of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which had already set April 25 as the deadline for the National Committee for Grouping and Development, as formally appoints the military junta, define an “acceptable” timetable for the transition.
The de facto Guinean authorities requested “more time” to present their road map towards a civilian government and attacked the impositions of the body through its spokesman Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, who said that “the Guinean government does not act under duress or under the no one’s dictation.”
🇧🇫🇬🇳 ECOWAS has issued a statement on the transition situation in Burkina Faso and Guinea. Both countries have requested more time to carry out the transition. pic.twitter.com/CLJLhkxHKE
— Deciphering the War (@descifraguerra) April 27, 2022
But failure to meet the deadline (because the proposal was presented on April 30 at night) may lead to new economic sanctions, which would be added to those already imposed on the leaders of the coup by the African international institution.
ECOWAS also announced the sending of a mission to Guinea to obtain information on the situation in the country with a view to holding a summit of heads of state and government of the organization in the country.
🇬🇳 THE CEDEAO and the UN have made an official visit to Guinea where they met with the authorities to evaluate the transition process. pic.twitter.com/DPJnZomD9r
— Deciphering the War (@descifraguerra) March 2, 2022
Waiting for the institution’s pronouncement after Doumbouya’s announcement, during the month of March ECOWAS already expressed its concern about the democratic backsliding in Guinea after the coup d’état, which motivated the international organization to demand the establishment of a civilian government within six months in the face of the junta’s refusal to announce the date of democratic elections.
Following this event, both ECOWAS and the African Union (AU) suspended Guinea’s membership in both organizations.
The coup that brought down Alpha Condé and raised Doumbouya
On September 5, 2021, members of the Army Special Forces Group, led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, staged a coup that ended with the capture and overthrow of the then president, Alpha Condé, the first president elected through a procedure democratic in Guinea.
In October 2020, the former president presented himself for a third term full of controversy, since the second re-election is not allowed, in principle, by the Constitution. However, Condé led a constitutional reform in March of that year to change that extreme with a favorable result of more than 90%, according to the data that was offered.
Little by little, Condé deteriorated his image as president through personalist policies and the application of a heavy hand from the security forces.
In September 2021, with the majority support of civil society, during the coup that led to the coup, not only was the then president deposed, but the Army Special Forces also ended the government of Prime Minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana and the National Assembly. So, the Constitution was abolished and borders were closed.
On September 17, Colonel Doumbouya proclaimed himself President of the Republic and the new Head of State. Later, on October 1, he took office as leader of the transition and assumed absolute power.
So, Doumbouya argued that the coup was intended to create the foundations to forge a rule of law.
After the coup, the ECOWAS heads of state insisted “that the transition be very short”, an extreme that has not been fulfilled by the military junta.
The one in 2021 was the third coup in Guinea since its independence as a country, which will be 64 years old in October.
With EFE and local and international media
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