Alpha Condé, President of Guinea: "I am not a dictator"
Audio 15:12
President Alpha Condé during his exclusive interview with RFI and France 24, October 6, 2020. RFI / France 24
Text by: Christophe Boisbouvier Follow
|
Video by: RFI Follow
18 min
Exclusively on RFI and France 24, Alpha Condé affirms that he is not seeking to hold a presidency for life.
Following a change of Constitution, the Guinean head of state is seeking a third presidential term on October 18.
But he says: “It is extraordinary that I am considered an anti-democratic dictator.
I am a democrat.
"
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Alpha Condé says his past pleads for him.
Asked about the ambition of a presidency for life that his opponents lend him, he replies that, for 44 years, he has been fighting for democracy.
“
I spent time in prison under Sékou Touré.
I won the 1993 elections. If I had wanted to be president for life, I would have taken power [with the support of the military] in 1993,
”he says.
If he is re-elected on October 18 for a third term, will it be his last term?
The outgoing president, who is 82 years old, dodges the question and says that, by October 18, one should not sell the skin of the bear before… [of having killed it].
The implication is that we must not claim victory too quickly.
To the question: "
Will you recognize your defeat if necessary
?
", He replies
:"
I am a democrat.
"Without ever citing the name of his main adversary, Cellou Dalein Diallo, he bluntly attacks him by accusing him of having been a"
gravedigger
"of the Guinean economy at the time when he was the President's Prime Minister. Lansana Conté.
To those who accuse him of instrumentalizing the ethnic question, the Guinean head of state vehemently replies that it is false, that he is Pan-African and that once again, his past pleads for him.
He affirms that, when he opposed Sékou Touré, many Malinkés reproached him for his proximity to the Peuls.
Finally, 11 years after the massacre in the September 28 stadium in Conakry, Alpha Condé believes that the trial of the alleged killers will take place.
Time, he says, for the ad hoc tribunal to be built ... with the help of donors.
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Guinea
Interview
Alpha Condé