President Nana Akufo-Addo has urged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to reach an agreement on a long-term solution to the political crisis in Guinea.
The regional bloc is meeting in Accra for an extraordinary summit aimed at pressuring the military leadership to return to constitutional rule.
President Alpha Conde was deposed in a military coup orchestrated by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, the chief of the country’s Special Forces.
The 82-year-old president was detained by the elite Special Forces unit that invaded the presidential palace in the city, Conakry.
Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, wrapped in the Guinean flag, emerged on state broadcaster Radio Television Guineenne hours later, introducing himself to stunned Guineans as the country’s new leader.
Guinea’s coup drove the country into chaos, prompting the West African Economic Community to threaten sanctions, and raising the price of aluminum to its highest level in more than a decade.
Guinea is the world’s largest producer of bauxite, an aluminum-making material.
In a virtual meeting, regional leaders denounced the power grab and urged the coup leaders to restore constitutional order and release Conde.
After reviewing the situation, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, who chairs the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, reported. Her report is intended to serve as the foundation for the summit’s discussions.
President Akufo-Addo welcomed member states and condemned the coup, calling for the democratic order to be fully restored.
He stated that the bloc stands in solidarity with the Guinean people and is working to ensure the country’s peace, development, and unity.
“We have met here to make a decisive choice on Guinea, and I trust excellences to find a long-term solution to the problem, because the decision will have long-term implications for regional stability and the defense of democratic values,” he added.
In 2010, Alpha Conde was chosen as Guinea’s first democratically elected president, ending decades of authoritarian rule by the country’s first two presidents, Sekou Toure and Lansana Conte, who served for 26 and 24 years, respectively.
Conde was re-elected in 2015 for a second term. But he grew increasingly unpopular after pushing through a constitutional referendum backed by Russia, which Conde claimed would let him to run for a controversial third term in October 2020 elections, which he won.
