Guinea’s Junta Feels the Heat

From one perspective, the past week has been a success for military rulers in West Africa. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), announced the easing of sanctions on Niger, Mali, and Guinea, backing down from earlier efforts to draw a hard line against unconstitutional transfers of power in the region. While the regional bloc’s decision may not be sufficient to bring the so-called Alliance of Sahel States (consisting of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger) back into the fold, it can still be seen as a validation of the juntas’ determination to resist external pressure.

Internal pressure is another story entirely. Instead of celebrating the ECOWAS decision, Guineans were expressing their deep dissatisfaction with the government ECOWAS was attempting to placate. A national strike began on Monday as trade unions demanded not just better wages, but an end to internet restrictions and the release of the secretary general of the Union of Press Professionals. In some areas, demonstrators clashed with security forces, a far cry from the exuberant masses that came out to cheer Mamady Doumbouya and his uniformed comrades when they overthrew the government in 2021. 

It’s clear that the junta is under pressure. On February 20, Doumbouya abruptly dissolved the transitional government and sealed the country’s borders. A week later came a decree that former opposition leader Mamadou Bah had been appointed prime minister. The general strike has now been suspended, but popular dissatisfaction with the cost of living and demands for greater civil and political rights will persist.

The change that the military leaders promoted as they ousted former President Alpha Conde—following his manipulation of the constitutional and electoral landscape to devise a third term—has been harder to deliver than it was to promise. For all of Doumbouya’s Pan-African posturing in international fora, he has been unable to perform any heroics for the population he supposedly serves. Since June, Guineans have taken to the streets to protest against the military regime, sometimes at the cost of their lives. It’s worth watching what happens now that the bloom is off the rose. The resistance of Guineans is just as significant a signal of what African populations want as the initial reactions to military seizures of power.