APA- Conakry (Guinea) – On September 5, 2021, Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya overthrew President Alpha Condé and seized power in Guinea.
By Aboubacar Siddy Diallo
Tuesday, September 5, marks two years since the junta came to power under the National Rally Committee for Development (CNRD).
The day commemorates the end of the regime of President Alpha Condé, re-elected for a controversial third term in November 2020, but deposed by the Special Forces commanded by the current head of state, Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya.
In Conakry, however, the day was marked by violent demonstrations organised by the Forces Vives de Guinée. This body, which brings together opposition political parties and social organizations, had called for rallies to demand a rapid return to constitutional order, despite the government’s ban on any commemoration of the second anniversary of the CNRD.
On Monday, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Mory Kandé, reiterated the formal ban on all demonstrations on public roads.
Despite the ban on demonstrations, the activists insisted on maintaining their call for a mass action. In some places, their call was heeded. The demonstrations were repressed by the forces of law and order, resulting in two deaths, according to the organisers.
The victims were identified as Mamadou Pathé Baldé, 18, and Souleymane Diallo, 16, both of them killed in neighbourhoods in the Ratoma commune, an area known to be prone to street demonstrations.
“It is now clear that the CNRD and its government have made the cynical choice of bloody repression against Guineans with the sole aim of seizing power, instead of a fruitful dialogue for a rapid return to constitutional order,” the Forces Vives de Guinée said in a statement sent to APA.
Security has been stepped up in the districts of Sonfonia, Wanindara, T6, T8 and Cosa, all along Route le Prince in the suburbs of Conakry.
A mixed force of military red berets, gendarmes and police were deployed in these troubled neighbourhoods to maintain order.
Meanwhile, young people in favor of the CNRD regime tried to reach the esplanade of the Palais du Peuple, where a giant concert of artistes is being staged to celebrate two years of the junta.
For their part, junta members reflected on two years of governing the country during an interaction with the media.
ASD/te/ac/lb/as/APA