The putschists who overthrew Guinean President Alpha Condé kept their promise by releasing, Tuesday, September 7, a dozen opponents of the ousted regime, who had been arrested during the protest against the third term.

An AFP correspondent saw about twenty prisoners come out of the civil prison in Conakry, including opponents Abdoulaye Bah and Etienne Soropogui, or a defector from the ruling party, Ismaël Condé, sentenced to three years and four months in prison for comments suggesting that only weapons could drive Alpha Condé out of power.

The soldiers who overthrew Mr. Condé on Sunday pledged to speed up the release of "political detainees" from his regime.

These releases took place under the supervision of Colonel Balla Samoura and Moussa Tiegboro Camara, both members of the new junta, according to the same sources.

A list of 79 detainees released on Tuesday was approved after consultations between the new authorities, the prison administration and the detainees' lawyers, according to the latter.

The National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), a coalition of political movements and civil society which led the protest, initially hoped on Monday for the release of its imprisoned members.

"The establishment of capable legitimate institutions" demanded

The soldiers began on Tuesday to dismantle the mixed army / gendarmerie / police stations installed on the main axes of the capital, especially in the suburbs, which allowed the Condé regime, according to its detractors, to curb the demonstrations.

They instituted a curfew and closed the borders, before announcing its reopening on Monday.

An opposition coalition led by Mr. Condé's main adversary, ex-Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, expressed support for the new military power, urging it to work as a priority on "the establishment of legitimate institutions capable "of" rapidly leading the country to national reconciliation and the establishment of the rule of law ".

ECOWAS calls for an election

These releases come on the eve of a summit on Guinea by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which condemned the flash takeover and the arrest of Mr. Condé on Sunday.

Following a putsch, the ECOWAS took sanctions, mainly economic, until the military embarked on the path of a transition of up to 18 months to return power to civilian leaders from elections.

A delegation in Mali, led by the ECOWAS mediator in this crisis, the former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, also expressed on Tuesday its concern about the respect of the deadlines, saying "concerned about the insufficiency of actions concrete in the effective preparation of the electoral process ".

The epilogue of more than ten years of Alpha Condé's regime in Guinea has aroused broad international condemnation, in particular from the African Union (AU) which called for the "immediate release" of Mr. Condé and the "return to constitutional order ".

With AFP

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