A unit of Guinea’s military seized power and suspended the constitution, destabilizing the West African nation that’s a key source of the raw material used to make aluminum.
The head of Guinea’s special forces, Col. Mamady Doumbouya, announced the takeover on state television Sunday and urged the armed forces to back him. The action was taken to address financial mismanagement and corruption in Guinea under President Alpha Conde, he said.
“If you see the condition of our roads, of our hospitals, you realize that it is time for us to wake up,” Doumbouya said. “We are going to initiate a national consultation to open an inclusive and peaceful transition.”
Guinea vies with Australia as China’s largest supplier of bauxite, the raw material used to make alumina and eventually aluminum. The country shipped 82.4 million tons of the mineral globally last year, according to government data. Much of that went to China, which is the world’s biggest aluminum-consuming country.
Investors including United Co. Rusal, have invested heavily to extract Guinea’s abundant iron-ore and bauxite reserves. Rio Tinto Group, the world’s largest miner, has been looking at ways to exploit Simandou, the world’s largest undeveloped iron-ore deposit. Johannesburg-based AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. owns the Siguiri gold mine in Guinea, its only asset in the country.
Doumbouya’s TV appearance bore a resemblance to a similar scene in August 2020, when a Malian junta removed President Ibrahim Keita after blaming him for the country’s socioeconomic problems. And in April, Chad’s army seized power after the death of President Idriss Deby.
The military takeover in Guinea on Sunday came hours after heavy gunfire erupted near the presidential palace in the capital, Conakry, in the morning.
Conde’s government said in a statement before Doumbouya’s announcement that the presidential guard, backed by the nation’s security forces, had repulsed the attack by the “insurgents” and called for calm.
Conde, 83, was sworn in last December for a third term in office, vowing to fight corruption. Initially hailed when he came to power in 2010 for ushering in democratic rule, he was allowed to run for a controversial third term last year after a referendum, backed by Russia, led to a change in the constitution.
A former educator, Conde has increasingly cracked down on opponents as opposition against his rule has grown.
