The head of the Guinean junta is sworn in as interim president on Friday

Mamady Doumbouya, a special forces colonel who led a coup in the West African state of Guinea in September, will be sworn in as interim president on Friday, authorities said.

Doumbouya will be sworn in at noon (12:00 GMT) at the Mohammed V conference center in the capital Conakry, a statement read Wednesday evening on national television said.

He will become transitional president, serving before the country returns to civilian rule, according to a plan unveiled by the junta on Monday that does not mention a timetable.

The September 5 coup, the latest episode of turmoil in one of Africa’s most unstable countries, saw the overthrow of President Alpha Condé, 83.

Condé became the first democratically elected president of Guinea in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015.

But last year, he passed a controversial new constitution that saw him run for a third term in October 2020.

The move sparked mass protests in which dozens of protesters were killed. Condé was re-elected but the political opposition maintained that the ballot was a sham.

Guinea. By Gillian HANDYSIDE (AFP)

The “charter” unveiled on Monday promises that a new constitution will be drafted and “free, democratic and transparent” elections organized, but does not specify how long the transition will last.

The document states that the transitional president will be “head of state and supreme head of the armed forces … (and) determine the nation’s policy,” with the power to appoint and dismiss an interim prime minister.

However, the president will not be able to be a candidate in the elections that will take place after the transition, he said.

The turbulence in the former French colony has caused great concern among Guinea’s neighbors.

The coup is the second to take place in the region, after Mali, in less than 13 months.

The region’s bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is demanding elections be held within six months, as well as Condé’s release.