By Emma Ogbuehi
Scholars in international relations have condemned the military keover in Guinea, calling for restoration of civil rule in the French West African state. After hours of heavy gunfire near Guinea’s presidential palace on Sunday, an Army Colonel, Mamady Doumbouya, has seized control of state television and declared that President Alpha Conde’s government had been dissolved, in the latest political upheaval rocking the country. The soldiers announced closure of the country’s borders.
The mutinous soldiers vowed to restore democracy and gave themselves a name: The National Committee of Gathering and Development. They were suspected to have arrested the president.
Doumbouya, who has headed a Special Forces unit in the military, said he was acting in the best interests of the nation of over 12.7 million people.
“The duty of a soldier is to save the country,” he said.
But, the Defence Ministry later claimed that the attack had been repelled, but uncertainty grew when there was no sign of Conde on state television or radio.
Conde has faced mounting criticism for changing the country’s constitution to enable him go for a third term after serving two terms of 10 years.
The coup violates the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol which frowns at change of government by force. If the soldiers have their way, Guinea would be joining Mali and Chad as countries that are under military rule in the sub-region. “It should not be allowed to stay. This is a terrible setback to democracy. The soldiers are not better”, a Senior Researcher in Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), told our reporter.
Experts are concerned at the uncertain developments in the impoverished West African state, fearing that the unfolding situation may worsen the fragile socio-economic situation in the country.