Guinea: one year after the coup, hopes and frustrations
A poster of the leader of the putschists and current head of state in Guinea, Lieutenant-Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, in Conakry, September 11, 2021. © AFP - JOHN WESSELS
Text by: Guillaume Thibault
7 mins
On September 5, 2021, a coup led to the fall of Alpha Condé, the country then discovered the country's new strongman: Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya.
A year later, the new Guinean leader who is engaged in a 36-month transition has also caused great tension within the political class and civil society.
Between the unconditional of the Colonel-President and the disappointed, the hopes and expectations of the population are therefore multiple.
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With our special correspondent in Conakry,
At the end of the Kaloum peninsula, sitting on chairs bearing the name of the national beer, Madame Fofana and her friends chat quietly at the start of the weekend.
At the end of the street, the presidency, and this secretary in an IT company remembers September 5, 2021 as if it were yesterday: “
Around 8 a.m., I was in bed at home when we heard the shots. rifle, everyone was scared
”.
Bangoura, a neighbor, completes: “
around 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12 p.m., we get information.
We see the images of President Condé arrested.
We are talking about a coup d'etat, an overthrow
”.
“
It was after we learned that it was
Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya
“, adds Mrs. Fofana.
Kaly, 19, full of professional footballer dreams, concludes: “
There was joy, he came to give us hope because we were desperate
”.
Going down to the Boulbinet port, Mohamed, a retired docker, proudly shows the new roads built over the past year.
“
I support 100% Mamadi Doumbouya.
He brought back a stability
that I
had not seen since the time of the first president Sékou Touré
”, he testifies.
Within a year, the junta lobbied to speed up road construction.
© RFI / Guillaume Thibault
► To read also: Guinea: in Bambeto, disenchantment sets in a year after the coup
Strong method, strong actions
Relying on all the living forces and the political heritage of the country was one of Mamadi Doumbouya's ambitions.
The day he took power, on national television, Guinea's flag on his shoulders, he declared, banging his fist on the table: “
Guineans should no longer die for politics.
We are going to put in place a system that does not exist and this system, we must all do it together
”.
And if he multiplied the calls for dialogue, for cohesion, the leader of the putschists quickly imposed his method based above all on firmness.
Last December, by decree, the leader of the country decided to rename the international airport of Conakry.
Now the name of the father of independence is displayed in gold letters on the terminal.
A strong decision, welcomed by the heirs but immediately criticized, particularly by the Association of Victims of the Sékou Touré regime.
“
How can we give the name of our airport, which is the showcase of the country, to this dictator?
», Was indignant the association.
Seen as the savior of the nation by a large section of the population pressed by the Alpha Condé years, the high-ranking officer, leader of the special forces was nevertheless scrutinized from a distance by political opponents and civil society who were waiting, after the promises, for acts.
And some of these leaders were quickly disillusioned.
Opposition under pressure
Mamadi Doumbouya has made the fight against corruption a priority and the majority of political actors and civil society welcomed last December when the Crief, the special court for the repression of economic and financial offences, was created.
But at the same time, the head of the junta also wanted to recover land considered as state property.
Last February, two of the main opponents, Cellou Dalein Diallo and Sidya Touré were therefore ordered by the courts to leave their homes.
Despite legal action, the authorities demolished that of the leader of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea to build a school there.
Since then, Cellou Dalien Diallo has lived in exile and presents Mamadi Doumbouya as an oppressor.
Within civil society, in particular the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution, the hasty methods of the president of the transition have scalded the spirits and revived the demonstrations.
The CNRD banned them in mid-May, saying that “
nothing can justify the marches in this sensitive period of national life when Guineans have started to speak to each other as brothers
.
Despite this official decision, the FNDC continued to take a stand, to denounce the political decisions of power.
At the end of July, 5 people were killed during
prohibited marches
and two members of the FNDC, Foniké Mangué and Ibrahima Diallo were placed in detention for participating in a prohibited assembly.
New escalation in these tensions, the junta announced the dissolution of the Front.
A decision denounced by defenders of freedoms, in particular by Michelle Bachelet, then High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN who expressed, at the end of August, her "deep concerns at the recent evolution of the situation human rights in Guinea".
Firm, the authorities have never ceased to repeat it, they refuse to receive lessons, in particular from ECOWAS, which is pushing to increase the transition from 36 to 24 months.
Crossed at the end of a summit of the organization this summer, a head of state from the sub-region, visibly disconcerted, slipped to RFI: “
What do you want us to do?
They have access to the sea, their own currency.
It is complicated.
»
Popular neighborhoods in turmoil
If external pressures seem to have little impact, will appeals from the street be able to move the regime?
Within the popular neighborhoods of Conakry, long-standing strongholds of the opposition, political tensions are palpable but the priorities of many inhabitants are other, particularly economic.
At the Madina market, faces are closed.
Dean, tap salesman, Mr. Sow calls "
President Doumbouya to come and see how people are suffering
".
Abdoulaye, in his late thirties, believes that the authorities must do everything “
to give young people work
”.
A civil servant, Mr. Camara considers that the number one of the regime has missed a promise, that of bringing together all the living forces of the country.
He therefore calls Mamadi Doumbouya “
to invite all the leaders of the country to his office to tell them to manage the transition with him
”.
Repairer of televisions, Savany believes that time is running out.
"
A transition does not change the country, Mr. Doumbouya must organize the elections because only a democratically elected president can change the country
", he believes.
At the entrance to the Madina market in Conakry, Guinea.
© RFI / Guillaume Thibault
Going back to the peninsula of Kaloum, seat of power, it is impossible to miss them.
On each side of the People's Palace: two huge portraits of Mamadi Doumbouya.
The president, in uniform, poses proudly for once without his eternal sunglasses.
In the background, the photo of a mine and under the portrait this text: “
A second historic victory: Guinea finally sets the reference price for its bauxite.
Thanks to the stubbornness of the patriot colonel.
In striking contrast, a little further on the other side of the road, the first giant portraits of Mamadi Doumbouya, installed last year, just after the coup.
On these, the colors have faded, yellowed by time.
On one side the power, on the other, a feeling of oblivion.
A year after taking power by force, the colonel-president, as the Guineans call him, must now convince the majority, prove that his decisions lead to a new dynamic because the euphoria of the first days has subsided.
►
To read also: Guinea: the curse of coups
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Guinea
Mamadi Doumbouya