Guinea Joins the Coup Parade

             When Alpha Condé won his first election in 2010, it was the first time since Guinea-Conakry’s independence in 1958 since then that there had been a democratic election, and it caused at least some optimism about the country moving in the right direction, but now, after two reelections – the third one very controversial – Guinea has seen another military takeover of the government.

            Guinea’s first president, Sekou Touré, was an autocrat whose regime rampantly violated human rights and failed to serve the needs of his people.  Shortly after his death in 1984, Lieutenant Colonel Lansana Conté led a military coup.  Conté held power until his death in 2008, after which there was another military dictatorship led by Moussa Dadis Camara, who held power for nearly a year until a counter-coup wounded his so seriously that he had to step down and seek medical attention in Morocco.  Camara was replaced by his deputy, Sékouba Conaté, who refused to allow Camara to resume his leadership post upon his return.  Internal and external pressure led to the 2010 elections that initially led to hope for the Guinean population, but which has now led back to the treadmill of military rule. 

            I met Alpha Condé in Kankan, Guinea in December 1992.  He was one of several opposition leaders with whom I met, while conducting democracy training for civil society and political parties, who were vying to replace Conté.  He ran for president unsuccessfully in 1993 and 1998.  He won only 18 percent of the vote in the first round of elections in 2010, but by the second round, he had garnered 52.5 percent.  He won reelection in 2015 with 58 percent of the vote and in the controversial third term election in 2020, Conté received 59.5 percent of the vote.

            Condé was one of a growing number of African leaders who used a referendum to change the constitution to allow them a third term.  There was strenuous opposition to the constitutional change, and dozens died in confrontations between the political opposition and government security forces.  The international community questioned the conduct of the election beforehand, but according to initial results, the new constitution received nearly 90 percent of votes in favor despite (or perhaps because of) a complete boycott by opposition parties. The turnout was calculated at more than 58 percent of the electorate. The Constitutional Court made public the final results on 3 April, and proclaimed the new constitution adopted by an absolute majority of voters.

            The political opposition continued to protest Condé’s third term despite the certified results of the 2020 election, and the country continued to experience political upheaval into this year.  There was celebration by many in the political opposition when Condé’s unpopular third term was abruptly ended, but not all Guineans were so happy about it.  They had experienced this military intervention before, and it hadn’t turned out well.  Many wondered how this time would be different.

As I said, I met Condé as an opposition figure who professed to be a democrat, returning from France to change his country’s fortunes.  That Condé was optimistic and determined.  The Condé I met during his 2014 visit to Washington was pessimistic to the point of paranoia.  His regime had been plagued by opposition almost from the start.  On 19 July 2011, the presidential residence was shelled, resulting in the death of a presidential guard and the injuries of two others.  While Conté survived this assassination attempt, it led him thereafter to see numerous plots on his life.  The continuing protests by the political opposition and charges of election fraud and corruption certainly created in him a siege mentality, which he expressed in the meeting I attended as staff for Rep. Chris Smith.

Let me be clear, I am not saying that the charges against the Condé regime were altogether baseless, but this situation created almost constant political upheaval, during which normal political discourse was not possible and in which any legitimate reform effort was seen as a power grab by political opponents.  These opponents repeatedly chose to boycott the political process rather than find ways to overcome the rigging they alleged.  If you don’t participate in the political process, you have little chance, if any, to correct it.

So concerned for his security had Condé become that the created the Groupement des Forces Speciales (GPS), an elite unit of the Guinean army – ironically the same unit that led this coup.  The leader of that unit is a problematic figure.  Colonel Mamady Doumbouya is a former legionnaire of the French army who returned to the country in 2018.  He is said to be a hothead and fought the Minister of Defense to make his unit autonomous from the ministry.  This likely set off alarm bells within the government

Like all coup leaders, he promised national unity and a restoration of good governance and democracy.  He told reporters that the "Committee of National Rally and Development (CNRD), (was forced) to take its responsibility" after "dire political-situation of our country, the instrumentalisation of the judiciary, the non-respect of democratic principles, the extreme politicisation of public administration, as well as poverty and corruption."

Yet he has suspended the constitution and dissolved the government and parliament.  In their place, Doumbouya said, "We have all of the security forces behind us to once and for all to end the misery of the Guinean people."

            Unfortunately, military governments ruling without a constitution, which the people voted for, or a parliament, which the people voted for, is not democracy.  Doumbouya is said to be a military expert, with deployments in several countries and advanced strategy training.  However, nothing in his background suggests he is an expert in good governance and democracy.

            One thing he said is particularly troubling.  "The personalisation of political life is over. We will no longer entrust politics to one man, we will entrust it to the people," he announced.

            This flies in the face of the facts surrounding the election of Condé, the parliament and the constitution.  A majority of people voted for all three.  The political opposition may or may not be correct in alleging that those elections were stolen, but using the military to “wipe the board clean” so to speak is not a democratic way of redressing grievances.  Recent history has shown that opposition candidates who continue to run against entrenched government can win if they organize effectively, gather allies and convince the people they have a better way, such as in Zambia

            Blame for continued corruption and refusal to provide for the needs of the Guinean people lies not just with Condé, but also with the parliament that abetted him, even recently voting to pad the budgets of the president and parliament while cutting the defense budget.  That defense cut may have sparked the coup because the military has long witnessed unrest in Guinea and rampant corruption and took no action while they got what they wanted from government.  What about the Guinean citizens who voted for Condé in spite of obvious corruption and lack of even basic services?

Blame also lies with the multinational corporations accused of bribing Guinea government officials.  Furthermore, blame lies with donors and multinational institutions that witnessed the destructive governance in Guinea for decades and took no effective corrective action.

In fact, whatever happened to the African Peer Review Mechanism?  It was created and established by the African Union in 2003 under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) to promote African-administered reviews to examine governance in countries on the continent?  Guinea never signed onto the peer review mechanism, but no serious fuss was made of their refusal or that of others who declined accountability to their fellow African governments.  So now the parade of African coups has been revived.  Mali has had two in less than a year, Chad has had one, now Guinea has joined the growing list. 

Both Gambia and Liberia have quickly condemned the coup in their neighbor country.  Gambia recalls former President Yahya Jammeh’s refusal to accept his electoral loss in 2016 and the military intervention from the Economic Community of West African States required to force him to leave office.  Liberia witnessed the overthrow of President William Tolbert by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe in 1980 and the overthrow of Doe by Charles Taylor in 1985.

Now any African country with economic troubles and allegations of corruption could be subject to removal.  Liberian President George Manneh Weah was so concerned he convened a National Security Council meeting to discuss the situation following Guinea’s coup.  Other African leaders may experience paranoia should there be demonstrations and unrest like Condé experienced and perhaps take undemocratic actions to secure their positions.  That’s no way to run a country.  That’s no way to head into the future.