BREAKING: UN Chief Condemns ‘Takeover’ By Force In Guinea

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres criticized Guinea’s alleged coup on Sunday and asked the country’s detained president to be released by putschists who claimed power.

“I am personally following the situation in Guinea very closely. I strongly condemn any takeover of the government by force of the gun and call for the immediate release of President Alpha Conde,” Guterres tweeted.

Soldiers who staged an uprising in Guinea’s capital on Sunday claimed on state television that they had disbanded the country’s government and constitution, as well as shut down all land and air borders.

An attack on the presidential palace in Conakry, however, was resisted, according to the defense ministry.

On Sunday morning, fighting erupted outside the palace, with various sources claiming that the violence was caused by an elite national army unit led by Mamady Doumbouya, a former French legionnaire.

President Alpha Conde was seen in a room surrounded by army special troops in videos uploaded on social media on Sunday afternoon, which Reuters could not immediately verify.

Conde, whose whereabouts are unknown, won a third term in October after altering the constitution to allow him to run again, despite violent opposition protests, prompting fears of more political upheavals in a region that has already experienced coups in Mali and Chad.

Doumbouya appeared on state television wrapped in Guinea’s national flag and flanked by eight other armed troops, announcing that his allies planned to create a transitional administration and promising to provide more details later.

“We have dissolved government and institutions,” Doumbouya said.

“We call our brothers in arms to join the people,” he added.

As the defence ministry said security forces loyal to Conde had repulsed the attack and were restoring order, people emerged onto the streets during the afternoon to celebrate the uprising’s apparent success.

A Reuters witness saw pick-up trucks and military vehicles accompanied by motorcyclists and cheering onlookers. “Guinea is free! Bravo,” a woman shouted from her balcony.

To replenish state coffers, the Guinean administration has dramatically increased and doubled levies in recent weeks.

Fuel prices have risen by 20%, prompting dissatisfaction among many Guineans.

Military vehicles were seen patrolling Conakry’s streets in videos published on social media earlier this week, and one military source stated the sole bridge connecting the mainland to the Kaloum neighborhood, where the palace and most government ministries are located, had been closed.

Guinea’s bauxite, iron ore, gold, and diamond resources have underpinned economic growth during Conde’s decade in office, but few of the country’s population have reaped the advantages.

Critics claim that the government has utilized tight criminal laws to suppress dissent, while ethnic tensions and widespread corruption have exacerbated political rivalry.

“While the president was proclaiming everywhere that he wanted to govern differently by annihilating corruption, the embezzlement of public funds increased.

The new rich were taunting us,” Alassane Diallo, a resident of Conakry, told Reuters.

“It is all this that made it easier for the military.”

(AFP/Reuters/NAN)