The coup d’etat in the west African nation of Guinea was led by Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, head of the army’s Special Forces who deposed and arrested sitting democratic President Alpha Condé.
The head of Guinea’s military special forces, Lieutenant-Colonel Mamady Doumbouya – a former French foreign legionnaire officer – later appeared on public television, draped in the national flag, saying government “mismanagement” prompted the coup.
“We are no longer going to entrust politics to one man, we are going to entrust politics to the people,” Doumbouya said. “Guinea is beautiful. We don’t need to rape Guinea anymore, we just need to make love to her.”
The most recent presidential poll in Guinea, in October 2020, was marred by violence and accusations of electoral fraud. Conde won a controversial third term, but only after pushing through a new constitution in March 2020 allowing him to sidestep the country’s two-term limit.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), through its acting president, Ghana’s leader Nana Akufo-Addo, threatened sanctions if Guinea’s constitutional order was not restored.
