The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has suspended Guinea’s membership in the bloc following the military coup that overthrew President Alpha Conde over the weekend, Burkinabe Foreign Minister Alpha Barry said on Wednesday.
The decision comes after Guinea special forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya seized power on Sunday and arrested president Alpha Conde, sparking broad diplomatic condemnation, reports Reuters.
The move by the military was on the other hand met with jubilation in some parts of the capital, Conakry, where residents turned out on the streets to applaud passing soldiers.
The Heads of the regional bloc also demanded Conde’s release from military custody, and will send a high-level delegation to Guinea on Thursday, said Alpha Barry, speaking to the media after a virtual summit of ECOWAS leaders.
At the end of that mission, ECOWAS should be able to re-examine its position,” Barry told reporters in Ouagadougou after the meeting.
Burkinabe Foreign Minister Alpha Barry said that ECOWAS would also request that the Africa Union and United Nations endorse its decision to suspend Guinea.
Conde had come under increasing disapproval for his perceived authoritarianism, with dozens of opposition activists arrested after a violently disputed election last year.
The 83-year-old became the first president in Guinea to democratically run for three terms, after he pushed a bill that allowed him run for a third time in October 2020.
ECOWAS was criticised at the time by activists for remaining silent about Conde and Ouattara’s third-term bids.
The new constitution sparked mass demonstrations in which dozens of protesters were killed.
Although Conde had won the election, the opposition maintained that the election was a sham.
Doumbouya, hours after taking power in the capital Conakry, appeared on television and accused the Conde government of “endemic corruption” and of “trampling on citizens’ rights.”
“The government to be installed will be that of national unity and will ensure this political transition,” Doumbouya tweeted on Tuesday.