The army seized power in Guinea – VG

Army officer Mamady Domboya announced, live on Sunday noon, that the government of Guinea has been dissolved, he reported. AP, who also wrote that the army had taken control of the country’s state-owned television channel.

– We will no longer entrust politics to one man, but we will hand it over to the people, Colonel Domboya said during the broadcast, according to the news agency.

The colonel also said that the country’s constitution had been declared invalid, and that the country’s borders and airspace were closed.

The United Nations condemns what it called a “forced seizure” of Guinea, according to AFP. The same goes for the AU in one Press release.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the coup in person on his Twitter account on Sunday:

Personally, I am closely following the situation in Guinea. Secretary-General Guterres said I condemn any seizure of power by the use of force, and call for the immediate release of President Alpha Condé.

Earlier Sunday it was reported shooting outside the presidential palace, Soldiers were seen in the streets telling people to stay at home.

Reuters news agency reported that videos on social media purportedly show Guinean President Alpha Condé being flown by the country’s special forces. The Associated Press points to another video showing the president in military custody, though they can’t confirm if the video was taken during Sunday.

The junta confirmed that Conde was taking good care of him and that he was unharmed, according to Reuters.

There were several conflicting messages from the country during the day. Guinean authorities told AFP that the coup attempt by the special forces had been averted.

At the same time, the Ministry of Defense claimed that the guards of the presidential palace were able to repel the attack, as Reuters wrote, and that the security forces are working to restore order.

He survived an assassination attempt in 2011.

Guinea is located along the western coast of Africa, and despite the fact that the country is rich in natural resources, its population is among the poorest in the world due to war and political instability, according to United Nations contact.

In 2011, the president survived an assassination attempt at his home, in which, among other things, rockets were fired at the bedroom of the presidential residence. Three people were killed in the attack.

Conde was re-elected for a third term in October last year after a constitutional change that did not allow him to be re-elected, but the election was marked by several violent incidents that claimed dozens of lives, NTB wrote.

The president was the first to be elected democratically in 2010. This was Guinea’s first democratic election after the country was transformed from a French colony in 1958, according to the Associated Press.

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