They arrested the Guinean president and suspended the validity of the Constitution – Telam

The soldiers take control of the Guinean government. Photo: AFP.

A group of Guinean soldiers arrested President Alpha Cond on Sunday, announced that he had dissolved the government and Congress, suspended the validity of the Constitution and imposed a curfew “until further notice”, a fact that has been celebrated in large areas of the country. adopted and condemned “strongly” by the UN.

“We have decided, after having arrested the president, who is currently with us, to abolish the current Constitution, to dissolve the institutions and also the government, as well as to close the land and air borders”, said the chief of special operations of the army, Lt. Col. Mamady Dumbuya, in a statement posted on social networks.

“The socio-political and economic situation of the country, the dysfunction of republican institutions, the instrumentalisation of justice, the trampling of citizens’ rights and economic mismanagement have led the Republican Army to assume its responsibilities towards the people”, explains Doumbouya.

The officer later reiterated the claims during an appearance on national television – which interrupted his usual programming -, in which he was seen in uniform and wrapped in the Guinean flag, and criticized the “mess” government, according to the AFP news agency.

The coup sector released a video purported to prove Cond’s arrest, in which the 83-year-old president appears dressed in a shirt and jeans, seated on a sofa, and refuses to respond when asks him if he has been mistreated.

“The president is with us, he is in a safe place and has been seen by a doctor”Dumbuya later said in a statement to French television channel France 24, according to the Europa Press agency.

The putschists detailed that the president was arrested in the early hours of this Sunday morning in Conakry, the capital of this West African country, and announced the creation of a National Committee for Union and Development ., who will assume the government, in order to draft a new constitution.

This Sunday evening, in a statement read on state television, the putschists announced that from 8 p.m. and “until further notice” a curfew began to take effect, as well as the replacement of the governors of region and the convening of a meeting in Conakry, for this Monday at 11 am, to ministers and other senior officials of the ousted government.

Witnesses said this morning heavy automatic weapon fire was heard in Kalum, one of the central districts of the capital, where the country’s main government and commercial offices are based.

“I saw a column of military vehicles carrying hooded soldiers, shooting in the air and chanting military slogans,” said one of the neighbors, according to AFP.

Another said the soldiers advised residents to lock themselves in their homes and not to go out.

At the same time, a “Western diplomat” quoted not identified by this agency affirmed that an attempted coup was taking place and that a group of soldiers occupied, at least temporarily, the presidential palace.

The diplomat added that the coup could be due to the government’s attempt to arrest, remove or remove Dumbuya from office.

After the confusion generated by the Ministry of Defense of the Cond government, which said in a statement that forces loyal to the president had pushed back the “attacking group” and stopped “the threat”, the coup was celebrated with joy in various districts of the capital.

Instead, it was rejected by the UN secretary general, the Portuguese Antnio Guterres.

“I am closely following the situation in Guinea; I strongly condemn any seizure of power by the government carried out by force of arms and I call for the immediate release of the president ”, declared the head of the United Nations.

Among other consequences, the coup d’etat changed the agenda of the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, because for this reason the match that was to be played tomorrow in Conakry by the selected Guinea and Morocco has been suspended.

The meeting was postponed “for the safety of the players” and in order to “protect everyone”, the African Football Confederation (CAF) informed in a statement, according to the Moroccan agency MAP.

The members of the Moroccan team embarked this Sunday evening in a flight back to their country, after spending several hours locked “in a hotel far from the center of the clashes”. Mohamed Makrouf, leader of the Moroccan Football Federation, had reported it earlier, according to the ANSA agency.

“We are at the hotel, we hear gunshots nearby throughout the day; we are waiting for authorization to go to the airport, for the moment we are locked up here despite the fact that a plane is waiting for us, ”said the technical manager in turn. director of Morocco, the Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic. , in the French newspaper L’Equipe.

“We don’t really know what’s going on outside the hotel; the presidential palace is not very far from where we live, I saw soldiers running in the streets, but we do not really know what is going on, the footballers are not sure, the concern is palpable “, added the coach.

Guinea held presidential elections on October 18, 2020 and two days earlier the center of Conakry woke up blocked by members of the security forces, as the press reported a riot in a military barracks around 100 kilometers from the capital.

Then Cond’s candidacy for a third term – for which he will be proclaimed on November 7 – sparked months of tension, with dozens of deaths and detainees of opponents.

Cond, historic opponent, imprisoned and even sentenced to death, became the first democratically elected president in 2010 after decades of authoritarian regimes.

However, in recent years he has been accused of following an authoritarian path and in March 2020 he adopted a new constitution which was the subject of numerous protests which were harshly repressed.