September 05, (THEWILL) – Heavy gunfire around the Presidential Palace in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, on Sunday morning raised fears that a military coup may have ripped through the fragile fabrics of the troubled country, and aborted President Alpha Conde’s third term in office.
President Conde, whose popularity has plunged since he manipulated the Constitution to give himself a controversial third term in 2020, was announced overthrown in the unfolding Sunday military coup.
A Guinean Army’s Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya seized control of state television airwaves on Sunday and announced that President Conde’s government had been dissolved, hours after heavy gunfire erupted near the Presidential Palace.
He announced: “We will no longer entrust politics to one man, we will entrust it to the people.”
The Colonel said that the Constitution was also dissolved and land borders now closed.
However, Guinea’s Defence Ministry had earlier claimed in a statement that the presidential guard and security forces “had contained the threat and repelled the group of assailants.”
Meanwhile, videos evidence appears to show the President sober and under detention by the Army.
Conde assumed office in 2010 after the country’s first-ever democratic elections.
In 2011, he survived an assassination attempt.
The 83-year-old won a third term last year in the 2020 presidential election, after he rammed through constitutional changes allowing him to sidestep the country’s limit of two presidential terms.
The opposition claimed last year’s election was fraudulent, with dozens of people subsequently killed in anti-government protests.
He said to be unharmed.
A military source said the only bridge connecting the mainland to the Kaloum neighbourhood, which houses most of the ministries and the Presidential Palace, had been sealed off and many soldiers, some heavily armed, were posted around the palace.
Heavy gunfire was said to be ringing out over the city, and vehicles full of soldiers approaching the Central Bank, close to the palace.
Guinea has witnessed sustained economic growth during Conde’s decade in power thanks to its bauxite, iron ore, gold and diamond wealth, but few of its citizens have seen the benefits.
Opponents insist he failed to improve the lives of Guineans, most of whom live in poverty despite the country’s vast mineral riches.
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