“We will not repeat past mistakes” – New Guinean Leader

Colonel Mamadou Doumbia who declared himself the new president of the Republic of Guinea Conakry after what appears to be a successful coup d’état to overthrow Alpha Conde delivered a speech to the nation afternoon.

Col Doumbia cited Conde’s disrespect of the Guinean institutions and the very constitution that made him president. He said as a result, Guinea is facing a crisis in terms of democracy as the people face abject poverty.

Col. Doumbia announced the Committee Nationale pour Reasemblement et le Development (CNRD) to focus on repairing things. He announced the dissolution of the constitution and the current government with the capture of president Alpha Conde.

Doumbia said he had heard the cries of the Guinean people and that his new government will focus on developing the country and bringing back the aspirations of the people.

Colonel Mamadou Doumbia with his wife and children

“We will not repeat the mistakes of the past,” Doumbia said, promising a return to democracy within 18 months. to the remaining members of the Guinean military who are still putting up resistance, Dumbia called on them to lay down their arms and join the movement to restore democratic principles in Guinea.

It remains to be seen whether the new military administration in Guinea will be able to resist the mistakes of almost all the military leaders who have seized power by the gun citing similar woe, but invariable end up becoming worse offenders.

It is too soon for the Guinean people to hit the streets to celebrate as is normally the case at the onset of a military take over. Thus the streets of Conakry remains deserted and calm.

But one Guinean national living in brussels who spoke to DNT slammed the regional bodies such as ECOWAS and AU for their almost certain reactive interventions when the military acts to save a country.

“Why do they sit around and allow these leaders to abuse power and over stay their mandate without intervening,” (Claudette) asked. Conde, like Outarra in Cote d’Ivoire manipulated the constitutional system to run for illegal third terms with the tacit approval of these regional bodies.

Yet the moment they are removed, these regional bodies send envoys into the country to intervene as ECOWAS is almost certain to do.

DNT News with Correspondence reports from Juluis Ouya and translations by Geeby Dialo in Senegal.

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