Guinea opposition calls for end to 'dictatorship'

Guinean opposition parties and civil society organisations on Monday called on Guineans to “put an end to the dictatorship” as President Mamadi Doumbouya left the country on holiday.

Doumbouya's office said he was travelling to Greece with his family “for a few days of rest” as part of his annual leave.

The Forces Vives of Guinea grouping accused Doumbouya and his allies of governing through “terror” and said the government imposed itself through repression, violence and corruption.

“This regime has gradually morphed into a dictatorship characterised by targeted killings, deaths in detentions of civilian and military figures, enforced disappearances, abductions and acts of torture against opinion leaders,” the grouping said.

It also condemned what it called “the muzzling of the press” and the “arbitrary dissolution of dozens of the most representative political parties”.

Doumbouya, an army general, came to power in a 2021 coup. He was elected president in December last year, despite initially having promised to hand power back to civilians at the end of a transitional period.

The president's supporters and allied parties won more than 80 percent of seats in parliament in May elections. The Forces Vives of Guinea called the presidential and parliamentary elections a “sham” and said Guineans had been “deprived of the right to freely choose their leaders”.

The grouping urged “all Guinean patriots” to join it in restoring fundamental freedoms and working toward what it called a genuine return to constitutional order.

In recent years, several political parties have been suspended, protests have been banned since 2022 and suppressed, and many opposition and civil society leaders have been arrested, convicted or forced into exile.