Conakry had until August 1 to propose a “reasonable” deadline for the transition.
An agreement had indeed been reached on July 20 between Guinean Bissau President Umaro Sissaco Embalo, current president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Colonel Mamadi Doymbouya, head of the National Committee of the Rally for Development (CNRD) in power in Guinea since a coup in September 2021. This agreement negotiated in Conakry between the two leaders concluded with a reduction of the duration of the transition from 36 to 24 months reveals Jeune Afrique. But, faced with the long silence of the strongman of Conakry, President Embalo unveiled the content of the said agreement on July 28 on the sidelines of President François Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Bissau. Hence the wrath of the junta, which built its discourse on the refusal of external injunctions.
For Colonel Doumbouya, the most important thing is in the content and not the duration of the transition. A rhetoric that was current in Bamako until recent months. Indisputable master of the clocks in Conakry and, it seems, of prosecutions, if we are to believe Amnesty International and a number of NGOs, which denounce arbitrary arrests, Colonel Doumbouya declared during the Council of Ministers on August 4 that the “reforms undertaken” will be carried through to the end. “There is no question of accepting that any rhythm is imposed on us”.
These remarks put ECOWAS back to the wall. The sub-regional organization had issued an ultimatum to Guinea until August 1 to return to a reasonable deadline under penalty of economic sanctions. For the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), a platform bringing together opposition parties and civil society organizations, the sanctions will be beneficial. “The FNDC and its allies call on ECOWAS and the entire international community to take strong and targeted economic and political measures to prevent the perpetuation of a military, repressive and corrupt dictatorship in Guinea,” the platform announced on August 3. in a press release.
