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Tag: Alpha Conde

  • Guinea junta chief wins presidency in controversial election

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    Gen Mamady Doumbouya has been elected president of Guinea after securing the majority of the vote, according to initial polling results published by the country’s election commission.

    The junta leader is hoping to legitimise his rule after seizing power in a coup four years ago.

    A civil society group campaigning for the return of civilian rule condemned the election as a “charade” after his main challengers were barred from contesting, while opposition candidates said the poll was marred by irregularities.

    On Monday, internet monitoring organisation NetBlocks reported that access to social media platforms TikTok, YouTube and Facebook had been restricted as Guineans waited for the full results.

    There has been no official comment on the restrictions, but opponents see it as an attempt by the junta to stifle criticism of the results.

    The provisional results announced on Tuesday showed Gen Doumbouya winning 86.72% of the 28 December vote, an absolute majority well over the threshold that would trigger a runoff vote. The victory gives the junta leader a seven-year mandate.

    Should the results be challenged, the Supreme Court has eight days to validate them.

    Opposition candidate Faya Millimono said on Monday that the election was marred by “systematic fraudulent practices”, citing expulsion of poll observers, ballot stuffing and intimidation.

    The ruling party and the government have yet to comment on the complaints.

    After overthrowing then-83-year-old President Alpha Condé in 2021, Gen Doumbouya promised not to seek election and to hand power to a civilian.

    “Neither I nor any member of this transition will be a candidate for anything… As soldiers, we value our word very much,” he said at the time.

    The junta leader broke his promise by putting his name on the ballot after a new constitution, implemented in September, permitted him to run for office.

    Eight other candidates took part in Sunday’s election, but with the exclusion of main opposition parties RPG Arc en Ciel and UFDG, none of the participants have a solid political footing.

    Although he is popular with many of Guinea’s youth, Gen Doumbouya has been criticised for restricting opposition activities, banning protests and stifling press freedom in the run-up to the elections.

    The general justified deposing Condé on similar charges – including rampant corruption, disregard for human rights and economic mismanagement.

    Guinea has the world’s largest bauxite reserves and some of its richest iron ore. Last month, authorities launched the gigantic Simandou iron-ore mine to widespread anticipation.

    However, over half of the population lives in poverty, according to World Bank figures.

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  • US sanctions ex-Guinea leader, Mali politician for right abuses

    US sanctions ex-Guinea leader, Mali politician for right abuses

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    The US sanctions freeze assests including those of Guinea’s former President Conde and Mali’s former President Keita’s son.

    The United States has imposed sanctions on more than 40 people and entities for alleged rights abuses from nine countries, including Guinea’s former President Alpha Conde and Karim Keita, son of former Malian leader Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Karim Keita.

    In a statement released on Friday, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the announcement was the outcome of a thorough and multiyear investigation.

    Conde, who was deposed in a coup in September 2021, was sanctioned for his “connection to serious human rights abuses”.

    In 2010, Conde became Guinea’s first democratically elected leader and was re-elected for a controversial third term after a constitutional referendum 10 years later. His presidency was bogged by allegations of endemic corruption and serial human rights abuses.

    In May, Guinea’s attorney general ordered legal proceedings against Conde and 26 of his former officials for alleged crimes, including acts of violence while in office. The charges range from complicity in murder and assault to destruction of property.

    According to the statement released by the US Embassy in Guinea, Conde’s security forces engaged in violence against opposition supporters and “the government arbitrarily arrested and detained opposition members” in 2020.

    Meanwhile, Keita served as the president of the Security and Defense Commission of the National Assembly in Mali from February 2014 until his father was overthrown in an August 2020 coup. He used his position to receive bribes, embezzle government funds and remove other officials who did not support his actions, the US said.

    Keita was also allegedly involved in the abduction, torture, and murder of reporter Birama Toure who was investigating his involvement in corruption.

    “Corrupt actors and human rights abusers both rely on deficiencies in the international financial system to perpetrate their activities,” Brian Nelson, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in another statement on Friday.

    “Over the past year, the Treasury has made combatting corruption and serious human rights abuse a top priority, including through the use of financial sanctions and addressing vulnerabilities in the US and international financial systems. By exposing the egregious behavior of these actors, we can help disrupt their activities, dismantle their networks, and starve them of resources,” he added.

    The announced sanctions freeze any US assets of the affected persons and bar US citizens from dealing with them.

    Individuals and entities from North Korea, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iran, Philippines, Russia, the Tibetan autonomous region of China, and elsewhere were also included in the sanctions list.

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  • Guinea junta agrees with bloc to hold vote in early 2025

    Guinea junta agrees with bloc to hold vote in early 2025

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    CONAKRY, Guinea — The government led by Guinea’s coup leader reached an agreement late Friday with West African regional mediators on a schedule for holding new elections a little over two years from now.

    The regional bloc known as ECOWAS has spent more than a year negotiating with Col. Mamady Doumbouya’s government following the September 2021 coup and had imposed sanctions on the junta leadership. It was not immediately known how soon those might be lifted.

    The junta initially proposed a three-year transition, which was rejected by the regional mediators who already had obtained two-year transition deals after similar coups in both Mali and Burkina Faso. Guinea’s two-year clock starts in January, with elections then due in early 2025.

    For some, the news was bittersweet as demonstrations protesting the duration of the transition in Guinea have turned deadly, including three killed Thursday.

    “It took more than 17 deaths to reach a consensus,” complained Aly Baldé, whose brother was shot dead in Conakry.

    Guinea became the second country hit by a recent coup in West Africa, a little over a year after Mali’s military junta overthrew that country’s democratically elected ruler. Since then, Burkina Faso has seen two coups of its own.

    Burkina Faso and Mali already have agreed with ECOWAS on election dates — Mali’s is scheduled to be held by March 2024, but the situation in Burkina Faso is now in doubt after the latest coup there.

    A deal had been reached with the man who first toppled Burkina Faso’s president in January to hold a vote by July 2024. But it remains to be seen whether Capt. Ibrahim Traore, who seized power on Sept. 30, will fully honor that agreement.

    ECOWAS has said that Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso will all remain suspended from the bloc until elections are held.

    Beyond setting dates, ECOWAS also has expressed concerns about what shape the future elections will take and whether the coup leaders turned interim presidents will be allowed to run as candidates.

    Earlier this month, Doumbouya reiterated that neither he nor any member of the junta or the transitional government would take part in the eventual elections now due by January 2025.

    Doumbouya emerged as the leader after mutinous soldiers overthrew President Alpha Conde last year.

    Conde had won a landmark 2010 election after decades of dictatorship and strongman rule in Guinea, only to eventually try to seek a third term in office. He claimed the country’s term limits did not apply to him. While he succeeded in winning a third term, he was overthrown nine months later.

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    Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.

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