Following the recent coup that rocked the nation, West Africa bloc ECOWAS has decided to suspend Guinea. The suspension was confirmed to newsmen by Burkinabe Foreign Minister Alpha Barry after a virtual crisis summit.
According to reports, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has also sent a mediation mission to Guinea.
Recall that the Guinean Special Forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya had seized power and arrested president Alpha Conde, sparking international condemnation.
Local reports have it that Conde had come under increasing fire for perceived authoritarianism.
It is important to clarify that Conde, 83, became the first democratically elected president in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015.
Things took a new twist last year when he pushed through a new constitution that allowed him to run for a third term in October 2020.
His action sparked outrage and mass demonstrations in which dozens of protesters were killed. Conde won the election but the political opposition maintained that the poll was a sham.
In view of the turmoil in the nation, Regional bloc ECOWAS convened an extraordinary virtual summit to x-ray the issues in Guinea.
It was reported that afterwards, Burkinabe Foreign Minister Alpha Barry said ECOWAS would also request that the Africa Union and United Nations endorse its decision to suspend Guinea.
