By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The military-led government in Guinea has announced the suspension of former President Alpha Conde’s political party, Rally of the People of Guinea (RPG), and two others, including the influential Union of Republican Forces (UFR) for three months.
This is the second time the General Mamadi Doumbouya-led junta has suspended the party this year. In March, he suspended RPG along with 27 others for three months, prompting Conde who was overthrown in a 2021 coup, to accuse the ruling junta of trying to “subjugate” the opposition.
The suspension comes ahead of campaign for review of the West African country’s constitution.
The move is in response to a planned protest by the main opposition parties and civil society groups on September 5 where they hope to demonstrate and condemn what they call power grab by the head of the junta, General Doumbouya.
Guinea is one of the West African countries, including Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, where the military has taken power and delayed a return to civilian rule.
Last year, year, the military junta in Burkina Faso extended its transition term by five years.
General Doumbouya, after the 2021 overthrow of democratically elected government said he was preventing the country from slipping into chaos and accused the previous government of broken promises.
However, since coming to power he’s been criticized by some for being no better than his predecessor.
In February 2024, the military leader dissolved the government without explanation, saying a new one will be appointed.
Doumbouya has resisted attempts by the West and other developed countries to intervene in Africa’s political challenges, saying Africans are “exhausted by the categorizations with which everyone wants to box us in.”
A referendum on rewrite the constitution is scheduled to hold September 21.
